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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23985937">All The Power On The Sea</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TalysAlankil/pseuds/TalysAlankil'>TalysAlankil</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Mermaid, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Kidnapping, M/M, MerMay, Pirates</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 20:08:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>41,883</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23985937</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TalysAlankil/pseuds/TalysAlankil</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Riku, son of the Governor of Port Royal, is captured by the crew of Captain Sora of the Leviathan during a shocking raid on the city. But he finds out that Sora has a secret he would rather keep.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>158</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Changing my entire posting schedule for this, happy MerMay! I can't believe how quickly this fic came together, it basically wrote itself.</p><p>The original idea was inspired by talk within <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraHearts">AuroraPeachy's</a> community on <a href="http://twitch.tv/aurorapeachy">Twitch</a>, though I twisted the prompt to suit my own needs :3c</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Trust these old bones. When the sea is like this, only bad things can come out of this day."</p><p>Riku couldn't help but smirk at his governess. The woman may have raised him more than anyone he was actually related to, and he may have insisted with his father to keep her in the household even though Riku was far too old for a governess, but sometimes, her superstitions only reminded him of how <em>different</em> they were. "Nova," he chided her gently, "believe me, I have no desire to go out in this rainstorm. But I'm expected to make an appearance."</p><p>"Bloody nonsense, if you ask me. This is no weather for an inauguration, even if there were no other omens. And who's ever even heard of an inauguration in the evening?"</p><p>"I still need you do do my hair," Riku said with an apologetic smile. He wasn't looking forward to the inauguration himself, but it wasn't like he had much of a say in the matter.</p><p>Rolling her eyes, the governess moved to stand behind his chair, combing through his long hair. Riku usually let it run freely down his shoulders, but for special occasions like this, he was forced to style it in a more fashionable manner—it was that, or have his father force him to wear a powdered wig like his own.</p><p>As he watched her work in silence, Riku couldn't help but ask, "What kind of omens?" Even if he didn't believe in those myths, there was something about them that had always fascinated him. Maybe because it was the only outlet for his imagination that his father couldn't squeeze the life out of under his boot.</p><p>"The fog in the bay," she said. "A telltale sign of pirates."</p><p>"Pirates? What pirate would be crazy enough to come to Port Royal? My father has enough cannons to blast a whole fleet, and I think we'd know if such a pirate fleet existed in the first place."</p><p>His skepticism did nothing to faze Nova. "And the salt and ozone in the air—that's the sign that mermaids are nearby. Who knows what witchery <em>they'll</em> unleash upon us." She sighed. "I remember the last time I smelled this scent. I was a wee girl, and the next day, a plague fell upon this island."</p><p>"Nova—we're by the sea. There's always salt in the air. And ozone? That's just the storm. I bet we'll be getting thunder soon."</p><p>"You wouldn't say that, if you had been born at the time." In the mirror, she shook her head. "It's not just the sea breeze and the storm, it's—bigger. Heavier. Don't you feel it? It weighs down on you, so strong you can almost touch it. So strong you almost feel like your chest is petrified and your lungs won't be able to take in another breath. Like you're about to drown, or be shocked to death."</p><p>In spite of himself, Riku closed his eyes, breathing deeply. There <em>was</em> something oppressive about the atmosphere tonight, though at the Governor of Port Royal's house, this was by no means unusual. If the heaviness in the air was more pronounced than usual, Riku was sure it was just the storm bearing down upon the city since dawn. "Do you think it's safe to open the window?" he said. "Maybe some fresh air will help."</p><p>Chuckling a laugh that sounded almost pitying, Nova moved to the windows on either side of Riku's vanity anyway. With both of them open, a draft started coursing through Riku's bedroom. "Your father wouldn't approve," she pointed out. "And I doubt I'll be able to do much good to your hair in these conditions."</p><p>"To hell with my <em>hair</em>," Riku said. He took another deep breath as the wind brushed his face. It tasted of freedom—or at least, what Riku imagined that would taste like. "How can you think this is a bad omen, Nova?"</p><p>"Even the worst storm would feel like a nice breeze from within these walls." Her cryptic words left Riku stunned, and he stared at her as she tied his hair back and adjusted a hat upon his head. "I'm afraid this is as good as I'll manage, Master Riku."</p><p>"It's lovely. Thank you, Nova." He stood from his chair, smiling at the governess.</p><p>As he moved to pick up his coat from where it hung by the door, Nova's voice stopped him. "You should be careful today."</p><p>"I'm always careful," Riku reassured her, smiling. "And besides—" He fished from under his shirt, taking out the silver crown pendant he carried on him at all times. "I'm always protected, right?"</p><p>The charm had been made by her granddaughter, Kairi, a girl Riku's age who worked as a maid for his father—and whom Nova claimed was a witch. When Riku had been five years old, she had given him this pendant, claiming it was the girl's first charm. 'A witch's first charm holds mysterious power,' she had told a very young, very impressed Riku. Nowadays, he kept it more for the connection to this woman he loved dearly than for any supposed power it might hold.</p><p>Nova smiled at the sight of it, but sighed. "Protected does not mean you're safe from everything."</p><p>"Then I shall have to heed your warning, so that it keeps me safe. And tonight, when it has, I'll come back to thank you for it."</p><p>Pressing her hands on her hips, Nova shot him a smug look. "All right, boy. You can quit using your charm on this old lady. I know you're speaking in jest."</p><p>"I would <em>never</em>," Riku protested—though a grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. "See you tonight, Nova."</p>
<hr/><p>Riku had to admit, even if he had no enthusiasm being here for the inauguration, that Port Royal's new shipyard was impressive, even to an untrained eye like his.</p><p>From a distance, he could hear his father the Governor boasting to other dignitaries about the shipyard's capabilities as they waited for the ceremony to start: how it would build newer, faster, sturdier ships, and the increased output it would be capable of. If one were to listen to his father's tales, it could enable Port Royal to build a fleet to rival the King's own. There was an underhanded meaning here—an unspoken promise of Port Royal ruling the Caribbean Sea, of the Governor becoming a King of his own, in practice if not on paper. Though Riku would not be shocked if his father's ambitions really ran as high as to wish for independence. Even if was not the kind of independence Riku personally craved.</p><p>His role in this ceremony was the role he'd held most of his life: to stand by and look presentable. Maybe charm dignitaries' daughters, if he had the chance, or a wealthy investor come from overseas. Riku was an expert on how to stand still; he knew how not to pay attention to his father's speeches while still looking alert and responsive.</p><p>The rain didn't make the experience any more pleasant, though it did not dampen his mood any more than his father's droning, now that the ceremony proper had started. Someone must have decided that moving <em>inside</em> the shipyard would be too sensible, so the inauguration went on as originally planned, on the boardwalk next to the shipyard, regardless of the tall waves threatening to crash down at their feet.</p><p><em>Just a bad moment</em>, Riku thought to himself. <em>Another one in a long list</em>. Maybe he could enjoy a walk along the shoreline after this was over; in this weather, it would bring him some welcome peace and quiet.</p><p>In his current state, tuning out the world as best he could, it took him a second to react to the whistling he heard. It was faint, especially over the rain's clamor and his father's voice, but it was distinct. He craned his neck up, trying to see what had caused it, but all he saw was that the fog had thickened so much since their arrival that even the shipyard's roof was hidden from view.</p><p>More whistling followed, and Riku whirled around on his heels. This time, he was certain the sounds had come from the bay. And it wasn't a <em>person</em> whistling, because the sound's origin moved, and moved fast.</p><p>Another whistle followed, closer to Riku this time. He looked up, and saw, on the shipyard's wall, a flickering, orange light.</p><p>"Arrows!" he shouted. "Flaming arrows! Someone's firing at us!"</p><p>He dashed for his father, who turned his way with an air of shocked annoyance. "Son, what are you t—"</p><p>Before Riku could reach him, or explain himself, the shipyard's roof suddenly burst into flames. A wave of hot hair pushed at Riku's back, and he lost his footing, ending up sprawled on the boardwalk underfoot. He scrambled to his knees, slipping on the wet wooden planks. "What's hap—"</p><p>"Pirates!"</p><p>The shout came from one of his father's guards as he pointed at the bay. Still on his knees, Riku turned towards the sea, suddenly oblivious to his drenched clothes as he gaped at the horizon.</p><p>It was as if the burning shipyard was cutting through the fog, lifting it all across the bay. Far out at sea, Riku saw a single ship, solitary yet imposing. It formed a dark silhouette, cutting a black shape the sky, bathed in the red glow of the setting sun. From a distance, it almost looked as if the dark grey clouds in the stormy sky were an extension of its sails, and in spite of the raging seas, it looked almost perfectly still, dreadful and imposing in its immobility.</p><p>It was close enough to be threatening, yet still out of range from Port Royal's cannons, Riku knew. Yet that made no sense; if it was so far, there was no way mere <em>arrows</em> would have hit the shipyard.</p><p>The screams were the first thing to alert Riku that he was looking the wrong way. By the time he turned around, a horde of pirates was upon them, coming from within the city. The Governor's guards ran out to intercept them, but they were a ceremonial escort: they were outnumbered at least three to one, and the surprise was against them. Riku forced his eyes shut after he watched the first soldier fall, wishing to block out the visions of death as the pirates overpowered them.</p><p>"Master Riku! You must run!"</p><p>The soldier's voice, followed by a sickening gargle, forced Riku to open his eyes and shocked him out of his state of panic. He pushed himself up to his feet, his eyes darting around in search of an escape route. Behind him, the sea. Ahead and to the one side, the boardwalk, crawling with pirates. He backed up instinctively towards the shipyard, wincing as the heat of the fire above him came against his skin in unpleasant waves. It still burned bright, in spite of the torrential rain.</p><p>He stood frozen for a second, looking at the scene ahead of him and weighing his options. His father was gone, likely spirited away by his guards—at least Riku hoped so, even if it meant he'd been left behind. He could not fight pirates—could not fight <em>anyone</em>, really—and looking at the scene ahead of him, he didn't like his chances if he tried anyway. The garrison would be coming, of course—but would they be here soon enough?</p><p>Glancing back towards the sea, he saw that a section of the shipyard's wall had collapsed further ahead, likely because of the fire. It sounded foolish, but it was better than pirates. Riku dashed along the shipyard wall, the slippery wood beneath his feet threatening to make him trip with every step, and made it to the hole in the wall.</p><p>Climbing inside, Riku put his arm up against his mouth and coughed immediately. The air was charged with smoke, burning with every breath. Still, he pushed through the pain, not wanting to find out if any of the pirates would be giving chase, and ran blindly through the shipyard.</p><p>He didn't know the layout of the building well, but he knew it only had one entrance into the city, and he doubted that that was safe. Still, staying inside the shipyard sounded like a bad idea, between the risk of being found out and that of the whole roof collapsing on top of him. Already the wooden beams overhead were creaking dangerously, and burning debris kept falling down, lighting more blazes on the ground level. Riku felt like he'd stepped into a hellish scene from one of Nova's ghost stories.</p><p>That left only one way to go—out at sea. The shipyard opened directly into the sea, deep enough for entire ships to be able to be put into the water. Riku stumbled his way towards the shoreline and climbed on the walkway that surrounded the docking area. He paused at the end, peering at the ten-feet drop to the water. The dive alone would be painful, and even here, the storm agitated the sea hard enough that he knew swimming to another part of the shore would be a tough challenge.</p><p>Perhaps it would be better if he waited here? He could take his chances at sea if the building started collapsing, but—</p><p>Just then, a massive piece of wooden beam fell with a resounding <em>crack</em> just above Riku. He barely stepped back in time before the wood cut through the walkway where he'd stood just moments before, landing into the water. Even then, it took a few seconds for the flames to go out. Maybe the arrows had been doused in some substance to make these fires particularly potent.</p><p>Frozen in fear, his heart racing at his brush with death, it took Riku a few moments too long to notice the sound of footsteps behind him. He whirled around, and saw a tiny pirate running his way. The man wore a tricorn hat and a leather coat, and wielded a curiously-shaped, wooden sword, the blade ending in the shape of a ship's wheel.</p><p>Overwhelmed, Riku realized too late that the man must be one of the pirates—and that he was coming straight for <em>him</em>. His breathing quickened as panic seeped in; the pirate was already on the same walkway as him, cutting off his only means of retreat. That is, his only means except for—</p><p>He turned to the broken end of the walkway behind him. Beneath him, the wooden beam jutted out of the water. It wouldn't be a pleasant landing, but it would be better than jumping straight into the water.</p><p>"Oh no, you <em>don't</em>!" the call came from behind him. Riku ignored him and bent down, ready to jump.</p><p>Something whistled through the air—a different pitch than the arrows—and when Riku jumped, his legs didn't follow. With a cry of pain and frustration mixed together, and landed on the walkway with a hard <em>thud</em>, his legs bound by some manner of rope. He tried to push himself up, but before he could, the pirate's boot landed on his back.</p><p>"Master Riku, I hear?" The pirate's voice, youthful and amused, sounded at odds with Riku's present circumstances. He must have overheard the soldier who had told Riku to run. "Son of Governor Xehanort, perhaps?" Riku gritted his teeth, refusing to tell the pirate anything. Undeterred, the pirate moved his boot under Riku, pushing to force Riku to roll on his back. Then the pirate knelt on his chest, pinning him down and gazing at Riku's face. He was as young as he sounded, likely no older than Riku himself was, and handsome, with a smooth, sharp face, and big, blue eyes—a blue clouded with grey, as if reflecting the stormy sea. "You certainly look the part. Are you?"</p><p>"I'm not telling you <em>anything</em>," Riku hissed. He brought his hands up, trying to push the pirate off of him, but the man grabbed his wrists as if they were no threat at all, and pinned them above Riku's head with just one hand.</p><p>The pirate smirked. "You just did, though, didn't you?" Riku attempted to spit in his face, but his mouth was dry. All he managed was to make the pirate laugh. "Oh, well. A Governor's son would make a useful hostage, but if not—guess I'll just kill you."</p><p>Riku's eyes went wide as he took in the pirate's words, and his bravery melted away. "Y-yes. I'm Governor Xehanort's son. I—" He found it hard to breathe, though he had no idea how much of that was the fear, and how much was the pirate's knee pressing into his ribs. "My father will pay you a ransom for me. Safe passage out of the harbor. Anything."</p><p>"Safe passage?" The pirate's grin widened. "I don't need you for that." He tapped a finger to his lips. "But do I trade you away before I leave? That's the question, isn't it?"</p><p><em>Before</em> he left? Was he thinking about taking Riku <em>with</em> him? "Please," he said. "I can't—I have—I'm no use to you—"</p><p>"Ah ah ah," the pirate cooed, sounding almost comforting, "<em>shhh</em>." He pressed a finger to Riku's lips, gentle—intimate, almost. However, when he did, his eyes went wide. "What do we have—"</p><p>His finger moved down Riku's chin, gliding down his neck, sending a shiver across Riku's skin. Then past his collar, fishing under his shirt until they found his pendant. "Don't touch that," Riku said, trying in vain to struggle. "It's worthless."</p><p>The pirate examined Riku for a moment, keeping his finger hooked on the chain. "Oh, I see that you actually believe that."</p><p>His choice of words made Riku pause, and he blinked at him, confused. "What're you—"</p><p>"I'm afraid you're coming with me after all, love." The pirate moved off of his chest. "Sit up," he commanded, and it was all Riku could do to obey. The pirate bound his hands behind his back, before untying his feet. "Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. You follow my lead, you don't get hurt. You try to run—" He paused, but his silence spoke volumes. "Understood?" Riku nodded, dazed and terrified. "All right. Come on, up you go." The pirate helped Riku stand, since his hands were bound. "And we're off."</p><p>He pushed Riku forward, up the walkway and back into the inferno that raged inside the shipyard proper. Riku gulped at the sight of it, wondering what the pirate could do that was worse than dying in those flames. He glanced down at the water. Maybe swimming with his hands tied would be the better option, after all.</p><p>Before he could make himself jump, the pirate caught him by his bound hands. "Don't even <em>think</em> about jumping."</p><p>Resigned, Riku started to follow the walkway. It felt unstable under his feet, but whether that was structural damage or his own legs shaking with fears, he didn't know. It still felt like a relief when he made it back to solid ground, especially since he was just a few steps from the hole in the wall through which he'd come in. Almost there—</p><p>"Watch out!"</p><p>Another wooden beam fell from the ceiling, and Riku didn't step back in time. However, the pirate pushed past him, brandished his strange sword, and with unbelievable speed and strength, struck at the beam. It split cleanly into two pieces, which fell just a step away from Riku on either side of him. He could still feel the heat on his skin of his shoulders, from where they'd almost touched him in their fall.</p><p>Frozen again, Riku stared at the pirate, and his strange weapon. "I—thank you," were the words that came out of his mouth, even if there were many others that pressed at the forefront of his mind. Such as, <em>why save me?</em>, and <em>how did you do that?</em>, and <em>that weapon doesn't even have a cutting edge!</em> But none of those things felt safe to say.</p><p>The pirate didn't acknowledge his gratitude. "Let's get out of here," he simply said, pushing Riku towards the hole. Riku all but ran towards it, wishing to be out of the shipyard as soon as possible.</p><p>Once he was out, he saw his hopes that the garrison would have charged in dashed in an instant. The city spread out before Riku, the gentle slope of the island giving him a view of most of him. And all over the city, fires were burning, likely signaling a location where pirates had struck. This wasn't just a raid on the shipyard, but a much larger operation.</p><p>This left Riku with just one hope. As Sora was still struggling through the hole in the shipyard's wall, Riku took off running. His sense of balance was completely off, between his bound hands and the pet boardwalk, but he focused as hard as he could on not falling.</p><p>He should have known it was no use. He heard whistling again, and knew just what to expect even before another rope wrapped around his legs. He yelped when his face hit the boardwalk, and tried to crawl anyway.</p><p>Beside him, a pirate laughed—not the same as earlier, by the sound of it. "Look, he's <em>trying</em>! Hey, Cap'n, what do we do?"</p><p>The voice that replied was that of the pirate who had found Riku in the shipyard, sounding tired. "Just knock him out. We're taking him to the ship."</p><p>The last thing Riku heard was the sound of a weapon coming towards his head.</p>
<hr/><p>Riku woke up, dazed, inside of a rowboat. His hands were still tied behind his back, and his legs were tied in a bent position, his knees brought up to his chin. In spite of that, he did all he could to sit up and look around him.</p><p>Rowboats, of course. They must have taken those under the cover of the fog, getting to the shore before anyone could spot their ship in the distance.</p><p>They were still in the waters of Port Royal, but not for long. They were past the outside fortifications, and it didn't seem like a single cannon had been fired. Why would they? Cannons were hardly any use against a rowboat, especially now that the sun had fully set and the bay was covered in darkness.</p><p>"Look who's awake!" His captor's cheery voice greeted him. "Was wondering if Mister Donald had hit you a little too hard on the head, there. He can be quite violent with that staff of his."</p><p>"You're gonna regret this," Riku hissed, leering at the pirate, even if it felt hard to look intimidating in his current position.</p><p>"Yeah, your father said the same thing before he ran. Didn't stop me and my crew from taking whatever we pleased from his fair city, did it?" He laughed and tilted his head up, breathing in hard, as if the storm' winds were just a pleasant breeze. "You'll learn that regret is not part of a pirate's vocabulary, Master Riku."</p><p>"Then we'll just have to teach it to you."</p><p>The pirate only laughed again at his boast. "I'll be looking forward to the lesson, then. 'Prefer knowledge to wealth, for the one is transitory, the other perpetual.'" He paused, eyeing Riku. "Socrates," he said with a grin. Riku had recognized the quote, though he chose not to acknowledge it.</p><p>Their rowboat was nearing the pirate's ship, and from up close, its dark wood in full view and water streaming down its sides from the waves and the rain, it looked even more sinister than from a distance. The ship looked old and weary, like a relic from an ancient time, yet at the same time, formidable and unshakable.</p><p>The other pirates on the rowboat with them started climbing aboard on a rope ladder, but Riku's captor—the captain, if Riku had heard correctly—stayed where he was.</p><p>"You're not going on your own boat?" Riku asked."</p><p>"It's a <em>ship</em>. And if you think I'm untying you long enough to make you climb that ladder—" He shrugged. "You already tried to escape enough times."</p><p>It was only when cables fell from above them, and the captain fastened them to the rowboat, that Riku understood what he meant. The rowboat was lifted up in the air, slowly going up, and up, with Riku and the captain aboard.</p><p>When they were level with the ship's deck, the captain hopped gracefully on board, and two pirates came to carry Riku off the rowboat. Only then did they finally untie his legs, and the sudden relief made Riku sigh audibly, though each pirate kept a strong hold on one of his arms, making Riku feel like he wasn't standing on the deck so much as hanging above it.</p><p>"Master Riku, welcome aboard the Leviathan!" the captain said, holding out his arms as if to embrace the ship. "I am Captain Sora. I hope you enjoy your time as my guest!" A mocking grin appeared on his lips, and he nodded to the men holding Riku. "Take him to my cabin," he said, "and lock him up there. I'll deal with him when I'm done overseeing the loot."</p>
<hr/><p>Riku wasn't just locked up in the captain's cabin—he was tied up as well, his legs once again bent up to his chin as he was abandoned in a corner of the cabin. The room was dark, without so much as a lamp of a lantern, only lit by the moonlight filtering in from outside through windows at the back of the cabin.</p><p>At first glance, Riku didn't know what to think of what he saw. Either the Leviathan's captain had a taste for simpler things, or his crew wasn't a very successful one; nothing about the cabin's furnishings would have looked out of place on a far dingier ship or even a commoner's house in Port Royal. A simple dining table, a chest which Riku assumed was for clothes and similar belongings, and little else; Riku was surprised that there wasn't even a bed. The shelves hanging on the walls were decorated with the only clear personal touches: seashells, dried marine plants, rough pieces of corals, all pretty things found at sea with little monetary value.</p><p>As his gaze swept the room, Riku noticed a railing cutting the room in two just on the other side of the dining table, which he had missed at first in the dark. Curious, he crawled as best as he could towards it, painfully as the effort felt. It was better than staying put, anyway.</p><p>The railing itself was an oddity, its bars made of the same dark wood as most of the ship while the top section was seemingly made entirely of corals. How one could acquire this much of it, or make it look like a single, seamless piece, was beyond Riku. But his gaze was soon drawn past it: the cabin, it turned out, extended below. Riku was only on a platform overlooking the rest of it.</p><p>Riku couldn't see much, since he couldn't stand or even get his head past the railing, but it was deep—maybe going all the way to the bottom of the Leviathan's hull. And what he did see left him stunned: the entire back of the ship was a giant, transparent panel, and through it, Riku could see the ocean's waters, currently a raging turmoil of greys and blacks, with the shadow of the odd fish darting in and out of view.</p><p>That wasn't something Riku had ever heard anyone doing on a ship; it was hard to even believe someone could build glass strong enough to take this kind of pressure. Yet here it clearly was, and the ship clearly did not sink, as if straight out of one of Nova's tales.</p><p>The sound of the cabin door alerted Riku, and he couldn't help but cower against the rail at the prospect of more pirates.</p><p>"Well," a familiar voice came, its owner hidden behind the dinner table. "You're resourceful, I'll give you that." Riku heard the sound of something being placed on the table, then Riku saw his captor—Captain Sora, as he'd called himself—peeking around the table, then grinning at Riku when he spotted him. "Maybe I should have had Donald and Goofy put a leash on you."</p><p>Riku backed up instinctively as Sora walked across the cabin and towards him. "What do you—"</p><p>"Enjoying my home?" Sora said, standing next to Riku and leaning against the railing. "I've always loved the view." When Riku looked up, Sora was staring at the sea depths through the glass panel below.</p><p>"How is it even—" Riku shook his head, ignoring his own curious urges. "Why am I here? What're you gonna <em>do</em> to me?"</p><p>Sora finally tore his gaze from the sea to look at Riku instead. "Right now? I was hoping you'd die with me. I expect all these emotions left you famished." He crouched next to Riku, and cut through his bindings—where he'd pulled the knife from, Riku couldn't guess, but it only set him more on edge. "I know <em>I'm</em> hungry after a successful raid."</p><p>Riku rubbed his wrists, and forearms, grateful for the relief in his muscles. He didn't trust himself to stand just yet, so he only stretched his legs out in front of him. "Who even <em>are</em> you? How can a single ship raid <em>Port Royal</em>?"</p><p>Sora didn't seem to mind remaining on the cabin floor; he settled in a seating position, leaning in a relaxed fashion against the railing. "I told you, I'm Captain Sora of the Leviathan. As for how—well, I imagine you pieced it together. A surprise attack through the fog, and sending my crew against strategic targets to cripple the response. It's easy, if you think about it."</p><p>"But you couldn't know that there would be fog."</p><p>"Or could I?" Sora said with a mischievous wink. "Perhaps I was just lucky."</p><p>"Seems like a complex plan to let rely on pure luck."</p><p>"Well, you know us pirates. Madmen, every single one of us." Sora grinned. "Anyway. Dinner? Although…how do you gentlefolk call it? supper?" He chuckled as he bounced to his feet and started busying himself around the table. "I've never had <em>supper</em> before."</p><p>Frowning, Riku observed him for a moment before he stood up. A tray rested on the table, likely brought in by Sora himself, and Sora was busy unloading it. Cautiously, Riku walked around the table. "Supper? It's still supper time?" He wasn't sure how long he'd spent alone in this cabin, but if that was the case, it couldn't have been that long.</p><p>"Well, sure," Sora said, not even looking up from his task.</p><p>Riku's brain fired furiously. He hadn't felt the ship move at all either, so could it be—</p><p>Before he could second-guess himself, he took off running, ignoring Sora's cry of alert behind him. He burst through the cabin door and onto the Leviathan's deck. No lanterns were lit, though the stars and moon gave off enough light of their own that Riku could see the shape of the ship around him, or the absence of any pirates nearby.</p><p>Encouraged by this fact, he kept running, barreling towards the railing. There, in the distance, he could see the shape of an island in the horizon punctuated by lights. His home—it had to be.</p><p>Sora's call caused him to glance back, and he spotted the captain on the deck just a few feet away. There was no time to hesitate: he stepped over the railing and jumped.</p><p>The impact of his body hitting the water was harder than he could have ever imagined, and the cold that seeped into his bones immediately took away his breath. Panicking, Riku kicked wildly until he broke the ocean's surface, gasping for air as he looked around, disoriented. There—Port Royal. He swam frantically, desperately, to reach his home.</p><p>He heard Sora's voice behind him, sounding oddly scared, but he couldn't focus on that. He already felt his strength waning after just a minute, and the island looked barely any closer. He just had to keep going.</p><p>A red light shone in the depths below, catching his eye. Then, as if in response, a blue one, somewhere to the side. A yellow one ahead. And another red one, or perhaps it was the same as before. Some kind of fish? Riku couldn't think of any that had such strange, artificial colors, like something out of a painter's palette.</p><p>The blue light appeared again, closer this time, then the yellow. Then Riku felt something ram into him, hitting his chest and knocking the air out of him. Dazed, he sank for a moment, then desperately struggled to reach the surface. Before he did, though, red lights reappeared in front of him, briefly illuminating what looked like a grotesque face in the dark depths. A face with a prominent jaw—and those jaws were coming for him.</p><p>Whatever this was, it moved too fast in the water for Riku to avoid, but he tried anyway, struggled towards the surface with renewed energy. Yet moments later, teeth clamped down on his forearm, biting down hard and pulling him back down.</p><p>The whirling sound of something cutting through the water at high speed went past Riku's ear, and a large, dark silhouette came between Riku and the creature. Its upper half looked human, with a head and arms, though one arm looked longer than the other—unless it was holding something; a weapon, maybe? But its lower half was elongated and smooth, too long to be human legs, and in one piece besides.</p><p>Riku stared in confusion, but the burn in his lungs forced him to stop staring at this new shape. He kicked his feet and broke through the surface, greedily sucking in air into his lungs in-between coughs. His left arm irradiated pain into the rest of his body, but he did all he could to stay above the water anyway.</p><p>The red lights vanished in a bright flash, but though the blue and yellow lights receded, Riku could still see them beneath him. What were—</p><p>His questions were cut off when something else broke the surface—or some<em>one</em>, rather. Sora's hair was a much more undisciplined mess without the tricorn hat, but his face was easy to recognize, his eyes looking almost silver as they reflected the moonlight. His shoulders were bare, but has he moved his arms to stay afloat, Riku saw that he was holding his strange weapon in one hand.</p><p>"Are you <em>crazy</em>?" Sora sounded more worried than angry, and Riku didn't know how to feel about that. "Those are Heartless. Waters are infested with them. Don't you know <em>anything</em>?"</p><p>"Heartless?" The word was only familiar from Nova's tales. "They're not <em>real</em>," he said, shaking his head.</p><p>"Yeah, and neither is your blood in the water, calling for every shark miles around," Sora retorted.</p><p>"I—" Riku raised his arm to look at it: it was a torn mess, his sleeve soaked dark, his skin beneath it broken in numerous places with jagged holes.</p><p>The rush of his escape was fading, and with that, the pain in his arm only felt greater. He felt himself <em>drop</em>, his body giving out on him as he sank beneath the waves.</p><p>The last thing he saw was Sora coming underwater and wrapping his arms around Riku. And behind him, that shape—elongated, unlike human legs.</p><p>The last thing he <em>felt</em> after his eyes closed was the feeling of something strong and muscular against his own legs.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Riku makes a deal with Captain Sora.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Riku woke up gasping for air, though he wasn't in the water. For a moment, he thought the entire night of the inauguration was only a dream, and tried to sink back under the covers. But those covers weren't the soft linen of <em>his</em> bedding: they were a thick, heavy fur, warm and comfortable yet utterly alien to him.</p>
<p>Forcing his eyes open, he took in the unfamiliar bed he was in, and the equally unfamiliar setting around him. It was only when his eyes fell on the glass panel across the room, and saw the bright turquoise of the ocean beyond it, that he understood where he was: back in Captain Sora's cabin. This had to be the lower level, the one he had only glimpsed before.</p>
<p>Which meant…this had to be Sora's bed. Riku threw the covers off of him in shock, and looked down at himself as he sat upon the mattress. He had been stripped down to his undergarments—even his necklace was no longer around his neck—and the left sleeve of his undershirt had been cut away, revealing his bandaged arm.</p>
<p>While the thought of someone—Sora?—undressing him and tending to his wound left him unsettled, the bandage looked clean, even if his arm was still painful. If his memory was correct, he had been bleeding heavily, meaning whoever had dressed the wound had already changed it at least once. Since it was clearly daytime, Riku guessed he'd been out at least for the whole night—if not longer.</p>
<p>Riku was surprised to be alone, and free to move around, though he doubted this was a sign of good news. Most likely, the ship was far out at sea by now, the ocean locking him in better than any restraints.</p>
<p>He got out of the bed, looking around the cabin. Even on this lower level, the rest of the furniture was as simple as what he'd seen on the upper platform the night before. The bed was the one thing out of place, its chocolate brown wood clashing against the dark, almost grey wood of the rest of the ship, and it was carved with a fine wave pattern, far more ostentatious than anything else in the cabin. Riku wondered if it had been stolen during one of the pirates' raids.</p>
<p>Part of the cabin was arranged as a cozy nook, two couches on a thick rug facing a humble bookshelf. Intrigued, Riku examined the books, finding a disparate collection, with few commonalities between them. The only thing the books shared were the artful illustrations decorating the pages. Mythology, far-off places, everyday life, even sketches made by scholars and scientists—it was all there.</p>
<p>One last thing drew his gaze: a large water tank, several times as tall as Riku was. There were more shells and coral inside of it, like the ones that decorated the rest of the cabin, but no fish that Riku could see; and yet, it was filled about three quarters of the way up, and there were steps up the side of it, all the way to the tank's top.</p>
<p>Finally, a ladder led up to the upper platform. Riku began climbing it, relying on his right arm as much as he could to avoid causing himself more pain than necessary. But when he reached the top, the platform was as empty as the rest of the cabin, and there was nothing on the dining table. Remembering the supper he'd run away from, Riku suddenly felt pangs of hunger in his stomach, and felt foolish for running as he had. Even if he hadn't gotten attacked in the water, he would never have been able to swim all the way back to shore; and now, he was in an even worse position because of it.</p>
<p>Thinking back to last night brought memories back to the forefront of Riku's mind, the last images and sensations he recalled before passing out in the water. It had very clearly been Sora in the water with him, but also…<em>not</em>. Riku couldn't bring himself to even <em>think</em> of the word, yet he could hear Nova's voice resonating in his mind anyway.</p>
<p>It would be a mystery to solve later—hopefully with food in his belly. But Riku certainly wasn't about to go out on the deck in his smallclothes; the very thought was enough to make him blush. Since he'd found no trace of his own clothes, he went for the chest: however, before he could look inside, the cabin's doors opened, and Riku instinctively backed away, putting the chest between him and the entrance, both for protection and to preserve his modesty.</p>
<p>Sora came in alone, pushing the door with his hips while carrying a bundle under one arm and a tray with the other. "Oh, good morning, love. Thought you might enjoy some breakfast." The tray wavered, and he hurriedly moved to the table to put it down, before casting Riku an unimpressed look. "You know, because you skipped a meal last night and all that. Very rude, by the way. I made it clear I was excited to <em>sup</em> with a <em>gentleman</em>."</p>
<p>"Why? You want to feel like one yourself? If you want a pointer: start with not <em>kidnapping people</em>."</p>
<p>Sora raised an eyebrow, then put his hand under his chin, theatrically pensive. "Are you sure? I'm pretty sure a good many gentlemen in the Caribbean <em>own</em> people, and I would assume the slaves didn't end up in that position willingly." His retort left Riku silent, and he smirked. "Luckily for you, I'm very much <em>not</em> trying to be anything like that. Think of it more as…curiosity." His gaze roved over Riku's body, making him squirm. "Oh! Almost forgot." Sora held up the bundle for Riku. "Had to borrow from Yozora, since you're not exactly my size."</p>
<p>"Yozora?" Riku eyed the bundle suspiciously, before realizing they were clothes.</p>
<p>"My first mate." Noticing Riku's pause, Sora added, "I promise you, these are clean. Unlike yours, which were torn up and covered in your own blood."</p>
<p>"I—" Riku took the bundle gingerly, eyeing Sora as he did. Around his neck, he saw the familiar silver crown of Riku's pendant. "You stole that."</p>
<p>Sora glanced down at the necklace, then back up at Riku, a smug twinkle in his eyes. "Let's say I kept it safe. We'll have time to talk about that over breakfast. Get dressed."</p>
<p>Riku bit down on a retort; he might as well get dressed and eat, then figure out his situation. The clothes Sora had brought were simple ones: a loose, light grey shirt, the front of which Riku laced all the way up his neck, and a pair of black trousers tight enough as to make Riku feel barely more dressed wearing them than without. Inside the bundle, Riku found a pair of black leather boots and fingerless gloves. He was especially grateful for the former: he hadn't been looking forward to walking on a ship barefoot.</p>
<p>Once he was dressed, he realized Sora had been watching him the entire time, seated at the dining table. Self-conscious, Riku pulled his hair out of the shirt and let it cascade down his back, then went to sit across from the captain.</p>
<p>For a moment, the two of them were silently, staring each other down. Then Sora waved at the tray on the table between them. "Help yourself. You must be starving by now." Riku glanced at the tray, then back up at Sora, hesitant. Sora caught it, and chuckled. "Do you really think I'd go through the trouble of capturing you, <em>rescuing</em> your sorry ass when you try to drown yourself, only to poison you now?"</p>
<p>"What was it you said? 'Madmen, every single one of you'?" Riku retorted.</p>
<p>Sora rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Fine. Pick something, and we'll share it. I haven't had breakfast either—might as well."</p>
<p>Riku snatched a bread roll from the tray, tore it in two himself, and handed one half to Sora. Unperturbed, Sora took it with a smile, taking a jar from the tray and starting to butter the roll, before handing it to Riku. He bit into the roll, his eyes holding Riku's gaze the entire time. "Satisfied?"</p>
<p>"I don't know," Riku said. "Maybe we should do it for the rest of the food too."</p>
<p>"That desperate to watch me eat?" Sora teased.</p>
<p>Riku ignored the blush he felt rushing to his cheeks. "Would you rather I watch you <em>swim</em>?"</p>
<p>Sora shifted in his seat, sitting up straighter as he examined Riku. "Please do enlighten me as to what you're implying."</p>
<p>"I'm—" The truth was, he wasn't <em>sure</em> what he was implying. "What <em>are</em> you?"</p>
<p>"I'm a pirate captain," Sora replied calmly.</p>
<p>"But you're not <em>just</em> that. Are you?" Riku summoned the tales he'd heard—most of them through Nova—and decided to take a gamble. "Does your crew know that you're a merman, I wonder?"</p>
<p>"I have no idea what you mean."</p>
<p>"I saw you, in the water. That wasn't—" He shook his head. "You weren't human. And before that, in the shipyard, you cut that beam clean in half."</p>
<p>"Last I checked, mermaids aren't known for martial prowess."</p>
<p>"Mermaids aren't known for walking on land either. But I saw you doing all those things, and I saw you with a dolphin tail." He paused. "I'm not a superstitious man, but I'm not going to deny what I saw just because I didn't <em>think</em> it was possible until now."</p>
<p>Sora observed him for a moment, then chuckled. "The Keyblade's own magic has a share of the responsibility here, in my defense."</p>
<p>His hilarity took Riku aback, and he decided to move past it. "So, like I said, does your crew know? From what I understand, men of the sea aren't too fond of the merfolk." He hoped he sounded threatening enough, because his heart was racing with panic.</p>
<p>"Straight to blackmail?" If anything, Sora sounded impressed. "All right. Let's parley."</p>
<p>"Take me back home. And give me my necklace back."</p>
<p>"Master Riku, please. That's not a very proper parley. You have to make some concessions, reach an accord between gentlemen. You can't just make all the demands."</p>
<p>"I'm the one with the leverage here," Riku said, trying to suffuse his voice with confidence he didn't feel.</p>
<p>"Are you? I can just have my crew toss you into the ocean, you know. Or gag you, so you don't talk, at the very least." Sora picked up a sausage link from the tray, cut it in two, and tossed half to Riku before biting into the other half. "Now, again. Let's compromise."</p>
<p>Riku took the piece of sausage, circumspect. "All right," he said. "What do you want from me?"</p>
<p>"<em>There </em>we go. Surprised you didn't start there, honestly. You'd think that's the first thing anyone would ask in your position." Sora paused to chew another piece of sausage. "What do you <em>think</em> I want?"</p>
<p>"Is this a test?" Sora nodded silently, and Riku started wracking his brain. A ransom seemed too simple; if that had been the intent, he would have traded Riku before sailing away from Port Royal. Besides, Sora had considered that out loud, back at the shipyard, and clearly decided against it. What had changed his mind was— "There's something about my necklace. You said—" He tried to remember what Sora had told him then, though his memory was blurred with the roar of the fire and the rush of his own fear. "I said it had no value, and you said that I honestly believed that. Which means <em>you</em> don't."</p>
<p>Sora hummed in approval, pointing at Riku with a smile. "Getting there, love."</p>
<p>"So what is—" Riku cut himself off, because he sensed he already knew the answer. "A witch's first charm holds mysterious power," he said, more to himself than to Sora.</p>
<p>"You know this? But—" Sora frowned. "You didn't <em>believe</em> in its power, did you? Yet you wore it anyway. Who gave it to you? Your daddy? A sweetheart you wanted to please by wearing her gift?"</p>
<p>"The woman who raised me." Riku wasn't sure why he answered at all, but the idea of him caring about a gift from his father, or from a woman, felt too ludicrous not to dispel.</p>
<p>"Ah. Of course. Not your mother, I take it." Riku shook his head. "Well, she was right. Mysterious power indeed. At least, to someone who doesn't know much about magic."</p>
<p>"But you do," Riku guessed. "Because you're a merman."</p>
<p>Sora grinned at him. "I didn't confirm anything."</p>
<p>"Did you cause the storm?"</p>
<p>At that, Sora laughed. "That would be <em>amazing</em>. But no, I'm not that strong. The fog, though? That was me. And to answer your question, no, my crew doesn't know about it, and I'd rather it remains that way. They just think I'm favored by Lady Luck, which is a very good thing for a captain to be. Unlike…the truth."</p>
<p>Riku frowned. "Why are you telling me this now?"</p>
<p>"Like I said. Making concessions, trying to reach a compromise. I need your pendant, but because it was made for you, I need <em>you</em> too. The charm won't work for anyone else." He picked the silver crown between two fingers. "Like I said, I'm only keeping it safe."</p>
<p>"What do you need it for?"</p>
<p>"The charm is a protection. That protection, in turn, can be used as a key of sorts. And I happen to be in need for that specific kind of key."</p>
<p>"What for? To reach some kind of pirate treasure?" Riku didn't bother hiding the contempt in his voice.</p>
<p>"The greatest of all treasures: freedom. For me, and the Caribbean as a whole."</p>
<p>Riku blinked, taken aback by his earnest answer. "I—what?"</p>
<p>"I'll explain to you as we sail. What I want to know is: can I count on your to cooperate with me until then? Keep my secret, help me get what I need, and when we're done, I'll return you home. <em>With</em> your necklace. Think of it as going on an adventure."</p>
<p>Something nagged at the back of Riku's mind, urging him to accept. Curiosity, perhaps, or maybe it was Sora's last words and the prospect of an <em>adventure</em>. Maybe it was just that it would be <em>something</em> other than stay at home and only leave on official business for his father. Yet, tempted as he was, he had to remain cautious. "Why should I trust you to honor your end of the deal?"</p>
<p>"The information I entrusted you with wasn't enough? Then come down with me." Sora stood up in a heartbeat, going around the table to the ladder leading to the cabin's lower level. He slid down the ladder in a smooth motion, leaving Riku stunned. "Come on!" Sora called. "I'll show you."</p>
<p>As Riku put a first feet on the ladder, he wondered what he was walking into. Was Sora playing with him? Was he just going to kill him now? Or something worse?</p>
<p>Between his worries and his painful arm, it took him a while to reach the bottom of the ladder. By then, Sora was waiting for him atop the aquarium, sitting on the edge of its front panel. Riku missed a step when he realized that Sora was naked, his clothes discarded on the cabin floor.</p>
<p>"What're you—" Riku asked. Before he could finish his question, Sora tipped backwards, and dropped into the water.</p>
<p>Instinctively, Riku stepped forward in a vain attempt to save him. After he took a couple steps, however, he froze: the blur of Sora's body had turned into a rich, sky blue light, bright enough that Riku had to look away. When he looked again, the light had faded, and Sora had changed.</p>
<p>It was just like Riku had seen the night before, but in the daylight, he got a much better look at him. Sora's smooth, lean torso was on proud display, Riku's necklace floating around his neck. But as for the lower half of his body, it was replaced by a long, blue dolphin's tail, seamlessly turning into human skin around his waist.</p>
<p>Sora sank, but it was an intentional, smooth motion, his tail giving subtle twitches that spoke of contained strength. He stopped just short of the aquarium's floor, his eyes level with Riku's. For a moment, Riku was stunned with how blue they were: much brighter than the previous day, almost shining with their inner brilliance. Riku turned away, intimidated by the intensity of that gaze, and his eyes landed on the window pane. The ocean water had that same blue as Sora's eyes, their brilliance caused by the sun's beams piercing through the water. It was almost like the two matched one another.</p>
<p>"See?" The sound of Sora's voice surprised Riku; he spoke, and even though he was still underwater, Riku heard him perfectly. "If I'm submerged in sea water, I turn back. Now you know how to <em>actually</em> expose me to my crew. Is that enough leverage for you?"</p>
<p>Riku could only stare at him, transfixed. It was one thing to know what Sora was, but another to see it in plain light. Luckily, it didn't seem like Sora was expecting an answer: he swam up, his tail giving such a powerful kick that he leapt out of the water in a smooth motion. He landed on the cabin floor in a graceful roll.</p>
<p>He stood up, and he looked human again—and was back to, or perhaps <em>still</em>, completely naked. Riku was pretty sure his body had forgotten how to breathe as Sora leisurely grinned at him, stretched, and finally moved to his discarded clothes. He only put his trousers and shirt back on, leaving his coat and hat on the floor as he turned back to Riku.</p>
<p>"So? Do we have an accord, Master Riku?" He held out his hand.</p>
<p>Riku blinked, trying to regain his senses. "Just Riku. And—I think we do," he said, shaking Sora's hand, "Captain."</p>
<p>"All right, Riku. Call me Sora, then. Only my crew calls me 'Captain'."</p>
<hr/>
<p>Riku's mind was spinning as they finished breakfast, too busy to even bother acting suspicious towards the food between them. He couldn't believe that Sora was secretly a <em>merman</em>. He could believe even less that he'd made a <em>deal</em> with him. And yet, here he was.</p>
<p>After spending so long hearing stories from Nova of the merfolk and the Heartless, and thinking them to be pure fantasy, he had a merman in front of him—a merman who had saved Riku <em>from</em> Heartless, no less. A merman who claimed to wield magic of some kind, both his own and through that curious weapon of his, and who believed in witches and their charms.</p>
<p>Riku's curiosity was eating at him, but he didn't know where to start—or what Sora would be willing to answer if Riku asked. So he didn't dare ask anything.</p>
<p>Finally, it was Sora who broke the silence between them. "You're awfully quiet."</p>
<p>"So are <em>you</em>, I might point out."</p>
<p>"I don't want to impose on you any more than necessary. I <em>did</em> kidnap you, after all."</p>
<p>Riku averted his gaze, but Sora had a point. And if they were to work together, it was something they had to talk about—and move past, hopefully. "What's so special about the charm?" he asked. "The moment you saw it, you decided to take me."</p>
<p>Sora remained quiet for a moment, a thoughtful pout pursing his lips, then said, "Perhaps it's easier if I show you. Will you come with me? If you're done eating, that is."</p>
<p>Riku glanced at the table instinctively. There was little left but scraps of their breakfast, and he was hardly hungry anymore, but he wasn't sure when he'd get to eat again. Even if Sora had given him leverage over him so boldly, Riku still wasn't sure how far he could trust him. "I—"</p>
<p>"If you're still hungry, I can go fetch some more food. Or I can just show you to the mess hall. Would you like that?"</p>
<p>"I—" Sora's earnest offer took him aback. "I'm not hungry, but—I guess you could show me anyway."</p>
<p>"Right. Come with me, then."</p>
<p>"Wait!" Riku called before Sora could rush outside. "Does—does that mean I can just walk about your ship freely?"</p>
<p>Sora looked back at him, tilting his head with a bemused smile. "Well…<em>yeah</em>. You're not gonna try jumping overboard again, are you? I'd really hate having to out myself to my crew just to save you."</p>
<p>"But would you?" The question tumbled out of Riku's mouth before he could think about it, causing Sora to study him carefully.</p>
<p>"You're a guest on my ship," he finally said. "Of course I'd save your life."</p>
<p>"So it's not because you need me to use that charm."</p>
<p>Sora grimaced. "Can't it be both?"</p>
<p>"I guess so," Riku said with a shrug. He couldn't get a read on Sora at all, leaving him to wonder how much of his behavior right now was genuine.</p>
<p>"Well, believe what you will," Sora said, though there was an air of disappointment in his frown. "Either way, yes, you have free rein of the ship. Hence the need to show you around." With that, he put his hand on the door handle. "Shall we?"</p>
<hr/>
<p>The sun blinded Riku with its harsh light when they walked out of the captain's cabin, forcing him to take a moment to get his bearing. Sora waited for him, smiling patiently as he leaned against the Leviathan's main-mast.</p>
<p>"You get used to it," Sora said when Riku's gaze focused on him. "I did, and I'd wager I had a lot less experience with the sun before I started sailing the seas than someone from Port Royal."</p>
<p>Riku nodded his understanding; he guessed there wasn't much sunlight under the sea. Still, he couldn't help but say, with a self-deprecating smile, "It's not like I ever went out much. I was rarely allowed to."</p>
<p>Sora cocked his head again, examining Riku with a curious look that already felt familiar. "Kept in a gilded cage, were you?"</p>
<p>"You could say that," Riku said with a self-conscious shrug, "though 'gilded' is putting it more nicely than it deserves. My father's Governor of Port Royal; this isn't exactly a glamorous place."</p>
<p>"I suppose," Sora said. "Well, speaking of unglamorous places—Mister Goofy!"</p>
<p>His call went past Riku, who glanced back instinctively. One of the pirates who had carried him to the captain's cabin the day before stood there, by the wheel, and saluted. "Cap'n!"</p>
<p>"We have a heading! Set a course to Nassau."</p>
<p>"Aye aye, Cap'n!" Goofy replied, and immediately set to work plotting on a chart next to him and steering the wheel.</p>
<p>Riku glanced back at Sora, who walked towards the ship's bow, waving at Riku to follow him. "Nassau?" he asked. "Not Tortuga?" Whenever his father mentioned pirates, that was the city that seemed to be their primary haven. Even just mentioning the name filled him with visceral horror.</p>
<p>"Eh," Sora replied, dismissive. "Tortuga's fine, but it's not a place anyone wants to <em>live</em> in. Its heyday has passed. Nassau, though—well, Nassau's home."</p>
<p>"How sentimental."</p>
<p>"The pirates of Nassau—myself included—built a republic on the island of New Providence. There aren't a lot of places like that—on land, or below. Places where freedom for all is possible."</p>
<p>"Freedom," Riku repeated. "You mentioned something about freedom before."</p>
<p>"I did," Sora said. "The treasure I'm seeking isn't gold—though we could certainly use <em>that</em>, too. It's magic, an old and powerful kind: the Heart of the Sea."</p>
<p>"The Heart of the Sea? And what does it—do?"</p>
<p>"It can be used to guarantee my freedom. And the freedom of all of Nassau. Free from all those <em>kings</em> who would call us all <em>theirs</em> and treat us like playthings." He scoffed, his gaze distantly looking at the horizon past the Leviathan's bow.</p>
<p>"Your freedom <em>and</em> Nassau's?" Riku asked, sensing there was something unsaid there. "Separately?"</p>
<p>Sora glanced at him, looking visibly distraught. "I'll—" He cleared his throat. "Not here."</p>
<p>Riku frowned, though he got the point. Although, that begged another question. "There aren't that many sailors on deck. Don't you need your crew—"</p>
<p>Before he could finish his question, however, the Leviathan's sails unfurled, as if of their own accord. Riku peered at the top of the masts, trying to see who was responsible, but there was no one there.</p>
<p>"What the—" he finally said, at a loss.</p>
<p>Beside him, Sora chuckled. "The Leviathan can almost sail herself," he said. "I raised her from the depths with the help of the sea goddess Calyso." He smirked. "At least that's what the tale says."</p>
<p>Blinking, Riku marveled at the ship silently for a moment. It wasn't just the sails—while Goofy was clearly steering at the wheel, now that Riku focused, he could feel that every part of the ship felt alive and in motion, like they were riding a giant sea creature rather than sailing a ship. "Is it—true?"</p>
<p>"Who can say?" Sora said, grinning.</p>
<p>"You," Riku pointed out. "You can say."</p>
<p>Sora winked at that. "Well, I suppose that's one secret you'll have to unlock. Can't share <em>all</em> of them with you, right? Come on, let's go belowdecks. You've gotta familiarize yourself with my ship if you're gonna stick with us for a while."</p>
<hr/>
<p>Riku spent the rest of the day with Sora showing him around the Leviathan, occasionally pausing to give orders to some of his crew. As he met more of the crew, he recognized the other pirate who had carried him the night before—Donald, Sora called him—as well as Sora's first mate Yozora, a man who was indeed almost identical to Riku in size, almost eerily so. Aside from them, though, the faces blurred quickly.</p>
<p>"If the Leviathan is magical and doesn't need a crew," he asked Sora at one point in the afternoon, "why is your crew so large?"</p>
<p>Sora grinned. "Well, they're mostly fighters. That's why I was able to pull off the raid on Port Royal: we need less people to man the ship, so my crew can afford to be better trained for a fight. Rémy, our cook, is probably the only one of us who's never taken part in a raid before. Though between you and me," Sora added in a conspiratorial whisper, "he's seen his share of scuffles."</p>
<p>On and on, Riku learned more about the Leviathan and its occupants over the course of that day—he even met said cook as Sora dragged him to the mess hall to demand a do-over on their supper from the night before. And, he thought, he learned more about Sora specifically. Not information, per se—and he could easily guess why Sora was guarded around his crew—but the ways in which he acted revealed just as much of who he was, if not more. There was an earnestness that permeated his every action, which led Riku to decide that Sora was either a strangely honest man for one who lived such a hard live and bore such a big secret, or that he was the greatest actor Riku had ever met.</p>
<p>When they returned to the captain's cabin, Sora carrying a tray of food, they paused when they came above deck. "Hold on here a minute," Sora said before vanishing inside of his cabin.</p>
<p>Confused, Riku stared after him, but he didn't dare follow him inside without being invited. It was his first time being truly alone on the Leviathan, and while the deck was still as empty as earlier, it still left him on edge. What if some of Sora's crew weren't as pleasant as he seemingly strove to be?</p>
<p>Nothing happened in the short time it took Sora to come back, in the end, but Riku still let out a soft sigh of relief to see him. Which he chastised himself for; Sora was still, above all, his captor. He should be as afraid of him as of any of the other pirates—if not more.</p>
<p>Yet it was hard to keep that thought in mind when Sora took his hand with a cheerful "Come on!" and dragged Riku towards the portside railing. "You won't want to miss the view!"</p>
<p>Riku had been so preoccupied with the ship and its occupants that he hadn't really taken the time to look at the ocean around them. Far off in the distance, over the horizon, the sun was setting, its red disk reflected and distorted in the water below and casting breathtaking colors all across the sky and sea.</p>
<p>"It's—the sunset," he said, though he hoped his voice conveyed the wonder he felt. It was like seeing it for the first time, unblemished by any of the city's distractions. A sea breeze blew on his face and through his hair, making his long locks fly in the wind, and he was on a ship in the middle of the ocean, setting sail for the pirate republic of Nassau.</p>
<p>It wasn't just the sunset—it was the very picture of the freedom he had craved all his life. That he would find it as a prisoner sounded ironic, yet strangely fitting, as he looked from the sunset to Sora. Perhaps the only thing that could free him from his father's grasp was someone else's equally strong hold.</p>
<p>Sora's eyes were still on the horizon, and there was a carefree, relaxed smile on his face. Once again, his blue eyes looked different, taking on the same lilac and purple shades as the twilight sky. "This might sound childish, but it's my favorite thing about sailing," he said. "I never got to enjoy the sun before. Especially not—something like this."</p>
<p>Riku nodded, understanding his implied meaning once again. "Thanks for sharing it with me," he said, because it felt like the right thing to say.</p>
<p>Smiling at him, Sora turned back to the captain's cabin. "Right. Let's—go have that supper after all." He cleared his throat. "Oh! One more thing. As my guest, you're welcome to stay in my cabin, but if you'd rather we set you up belowdecks with the crew, you just need to tell me, so I can make the arrangements."</p>
<p>"Um—" Riku hesitated, baffled by the sudden change of topic. The idea of sleeping with the crew was enough to make him panic, but— "I don't remember there being a second bed in your cabin," he said diplomatically.</p>
<p>Sora chuckled. "Come on in," he said, opening the captain's cabin in front of him. Curious, Riku followed inside, unsure how that would explain anything. Instead of saying anything, however, Sora locked the door behind Riku, and moved to get settled at the dining table. "I don't sleep in that bed," he finally said. "Not most nights, anyway."</p>
<p>"Where do you—" Riku started, then guessed. "The aquarium?"</p>
<p>Sora nodded. "I have to go back to the water regularly. Otherwise, I'll—" He shook his head. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant."</p>
<p>"How did you even end up in this position?" Riku couldn't help but ask. "This life? Being a pirate, pretending to be human?"</p>
<p>"Same way as most pirates, really. The world left us behind, a king who was too much of a tyrant, and enough willpower to leave everything behind and start anew in these waters." Sora shrugged. "The only difference is <em>which</em> king, really."</p>
<p>"So you're not—cursed or something?"</p>
<p>Sora's bemused smile returned as he shook his head. "The ability to turn into a human is a common one among the merfolk. Few make use of it, though. Like I said, we need to return to the water frequently, and I mean ocean water. Traveling far inland is out of the question, and on islands like Port Royal, there are always those on the lookout for my kind. The risk of discovery is too great."</p>
<p>"But not for you."</p>
<p>"I have a safe haven here, on the Leviathan. Otherwise—" He sighed. "Well, who knows? I'm not one to get bogged down in that kind of speculation. In any case, you can use my bed."</p>
<p>Riku nodded, briefly grateful, until a thought slipped into his mind. "But—your crew doesn't know any of that."</p>
<p>Sora simply shrugged. "Yeah, they'll probably think you're sharing my bed." He laughed, even harder when he noticed Riku's blush. "Don't worry. That sort of thing isn't going to be frowned upon on this ship—or in Nassau."</p>
<p>"Really?" Riku tried his best to keep his voice curious, and nothing else. Sora certainly didn't need to know how easily his heart rate had suddenly quickened.</p>
<p>"If anything, consider it a way to make my protection official," Sora said with a wink. "No one will try to touch you—one way or the other—if they think I've…staked my claim." He briefly bit his lip as he said the words, raising his eyebrows ever so slightly.</p>
<p>"I—<em>um</em>." Riku was truly at a loss for words, especially as his traitorous mind conjured up images of what Sora was implying. He didn't even have to imagine much, after the show Sora had offered in the morning.</p>
<p>Maybe being on the Leviathan left him a little <em>too</em> free.</p>
<hr/>
<p>They spent three more days out in the open sea. Three days during which Riku explored the Leviathan, breathed in the sea breeze, and felt strangely more and more at peace with his decision to work with Sora. It should be a betrayal of his family and what they stood for, and it should be a terrifying ordeal to live among pirates, but he felt more at ease here than he ever had at home.</p>
<p>Sure, the pirates were still intimidating, but some were warming up to him. First Mate Yozora ribbed him about being pampered every time they crossed paths, but he was also the one who decided to teach Riku how to move about a ship, how to climb the rigging and keep his footing when the waves grew taller and angrier. On the third day, he even tossed Riku a practice sword and sparred with him for a bit after Riku mentioned the disastrous lessons he'd been given at home. Goofy was always full of tales to share, and regaled Riku with pirate lore and stories of their own past adventures. He and Donald seemed to have known Sora the longest, and while Riku couldn't ask if he knew what Sora truly was, he could tell they cared for him. Donald himself showed Riku a few navigation tricks, both during the day and at night, and he also gave Riku one of his spare bandanas when he realized that Riku was starting to burn up in the sun. Grateful, Riku wrapped it around his scalp, and left it there.</p>
<p>And then, of course, there was Sora himself. He couldn't spend all his time with Riku the way he had his first day aboard, his captain's duties taking him all over the ship, but whenever he was free, he seemed to gravitate back towards Riku. Or perhaps he was keeping an eye on him; but if so, he always did it with a kind warmth that belied the way Riku had come to be on board the Leviathan.</p>
<p>Every evening they retreated to Sora's cabin, holing up on the couches in the nook. Sora picked up books at random and showed them to Riku with unabashed enthusiasm as he told him about the faraway places they depicted, the legends they told, the animals shown on the page.</p>
<p>"What is it with you and those books?" Riku couldn't help but ask on his fourth night aboard the Leviathan—the last one before they reached port, according to Donald.</p>
<p>Sora answered without hesitation. "They're like—a window into the rest of the world. All those things I'll probably never get to see myself."</p>
<p>"You don't know. It could happen. This ship looks like it could cross the oceans beyond the Caribbean."</p>
<p>"Yeah, it probably could, but even so—" Sora's eye grew distant. "I could never go inland. I could never see deserts, jungles, or mountains—Not without the Heart of the Sea, anyway."</p>
<p>"You did say it could guarantee your freedom <em>and</em> Nassau's," Riku said, guessing. "Is that what you mean?"</p>
<p>Sora nodded. "With it, I wouldn't need to return to the ocean." He sighed. "But—I could never <em>really</em> do that. I couldn't leave Nassau, and I especially couldn't take the Heart of the Sea from them."</p>
<p>"What could it do for Nassau? You said it could guarantee your freedom, but—I don't quite get what that means."</p>
<p>"The Heart of the Sea gives control over ocean waters. With it, we could protect Nassau from any outside influence. Prevent any enemy ship from ever coming near our shores. Open sea routes to other ports that only our ships could take."</p>
<p>Riku frowned. "To sack them?"</p>
<p>"For trade," Sora retorted, looking indignant. "No society can thrive on violence alone."</p>
<p>"But you raided Port Royal."</p>
<p>Sora nodded. "And England launched many attacks against us. On and on; it's the never-ending struggle for control."</p>
<p>Riku looked away, thoughtful. "My father wants a part in that struggle," he said. "I'm pretty sure he wants an independent Port Royal ruling the entire Caribbean Sea."</p>
<p>"Of course he does," Sora said with a scoff.</p>
<p>"Does that mean his interests align with yours?"</p>
<p>"Not if he plans to <em>rule</em> anything. That's just trading one tyrant for another, closer tyrant." He paused. "I don't mean to insult—he's your father—"</p>
<p>"No," Riku cut him off. If anything, he couldn't help but nod along with Sora's words. "He's pretty tyrannical. I can say from personal experience, you don't want him to have a say in your lives."</p>
<p>Sora smirked. "Got a rebellious streak, do you? I like that."</p>
<p>Riku hoped his blush couldn't be seen in the cabin's dim light. "Well, you <em>would</em> say that, being a pirate and all."</p>
<p>"That's right. I would." Sora observed him silently for a moment, then yawned. His yawning reminded Riku of a cat—adorable at first, then suddenly, there was a glimpse of teeth just a little too sharp to be truly human, enough to be terrifying. Yet watching him stretch on the couch, it was hard for Riku to think of Sora as a source of danger to him. "Well, I think I'm calling it a night here."</p>
<p>He stood up and dragged himself to the aquarium, shamelessly tossing his shirt over his head and to the floor, and just like every other night before, Riku couldn't tear his gaze from him as he undressed. If Sora had noticed or minded, he hadn't said anything until now.</p>
<p>This night, however, Sora stumbled and hit the aquarium's glass face first, barely catching himself with his hands before he slid to the floor. Alarmed, Riku bolted from his couch towards Sora. "Are you okay?" he asked as Sora pushed himself off of the aquarium, and lost his balance again, falling into Riku's arms. The skin of his bare chest felt warm under Sora's fingers, but also oddly dry.</p>
<p>"We sure got carried away tonight, huh?" Sora said weakly, looking up at him with a weak smile. "It's later than I thought it was."</p>
<p>"I—guess," Riku said.</p>
<p>"I had an early start this morning," Sora said.</p>
<p>It took a moment for Riku's brain to connect. "You've been out of the water too long," he guessed.</p>
<p>"Could you—help me up?"</p>
<p>"What should I do? Just—get you to the water?"</p>
<p>"Yeah. And—" he glanced down. "If you could take those off of me? I don't want to ruin these trousers."</p>
<p>Riku's blush returned in full force at Sora's request, but just one look at the weakness in Sora's gaze was enough to bypass his sense of propriety. <em>Yeah, right</em>, a voice in his mind said. <em>Like you haven't been thinking about doing this before</em>.</p>
<p>Silencing that voice, Riku did his best to unbuckle Sora's trousers with one hand, holding him up with the other. It was more of a struggle than he would have liked, but he finally managed to get the garment on the floor.</p>
<p>"Come on," he said, trying to lead Sora to the steps up the water tank's side. Sora weakly went along, letting himself be dragged more than he walked, and when it was time to climb the steps, could barely move.</p>
<p>"Sorry," Sora said with a sigh. "It's been a while since I—"</p>
<p>"Don't worry about it," Riku said. Keeping his arm around Sora's chest, he put his other arm under Sora's knees and lifted him up, trying to ignore how warm he felt through Riku's shirt, or that there was only a tiny pair of underpants covering up his body. He felt heavy in Riku's arm, yet Riku also felt like he could have carried him anywhere. "I've got you."</p>
<p>Sora's lips moved, but the only sound that came out of his mouth was a faint moan, and his head went slack, his forehead pressed to Riku's shoulder.</p>
<p>Worried by how quickly Sora's state seemed to deteriorate, Riku hurried up the steps to the top of the aquarium. He'd never been here before; he hadn't realized just how <em>tall</em> it really was. He paused briefly, suddenly intimidated and winded from carrying Sora. "How do I—" He didn't want to just <em>drop</em> him there. Instead, he bent forward, trying to lay Sora down into the water more gently…and in an instant, he felt his balance shift, and his own body tipped forward into the water.</p>
<p>The shock of hitting the water left him disoriented, salt filled his nose and mouth, and his vision suddenly flooded with Sora's tail as it materialized. It felt like it was all around him, even though Riku knew it wasn't <em>that</em> long. Sora remained unmoving, seemingly unconscious.</p>
<p>Shaking his daze, Riku swam up to the surface; but when he broke through, he remembered that the water level didn't reach all the way to the top. He looked up, but the top of the aquarium was out of reach, even as he reached as high up as he could.</p>
<p>Panic seized at him, making him expend even more energy trying to get out of the aquarium. Too deep for him to stand, too tall for him to get out. Was he going to drown in here, just a few feet away from safety, after surviving the open sea and the monsters that lurked there?</p>
<p>Arms wrapped around his waist, and he felt Sora's powerful tail kicking in the water near his legs. Then he was suddenly carried upwards, the cabin whirling in his vision as Sora took him out of the tank in a single leap. They both landed on the cabin floor in front of the aquarium, sprawling on the wood far less gracefully than Sora did when he jumped out on his own.</p>
<p>Riku winced at the shock, but he also breathed out a sigh of relief. "Didn't know if you'd wake up in time to save me," he said, turning his head to face Sora without moving from where he lay.</p>
<p>Sora was lying on his side, grinning at Riku as well. His body had once again reverted to its human form. "Tell me about it," he said. "You know you didn't <em>have</em> to jump in the water with me, right?"</p>
<p>Riku grimaced. "Didn't mean to."</p>
<p>"Well, I'm glad you're safe."</p>
<p>"I'm glad you're safe, too," Riku said. And, to his surprise, he realized he meant those words.</p>
<p>"I still need to rest, though. I think you'll have to carry me."</p>
<p>"I don't know if I can carry you up there again, though." Not just because he was terrified to try again—he felt exhausted after thrashing in the water like he had.</p>
<p>"It's okay—all I needed was to go in the water for a while. I can sleep in my bed tonight, for once. If that's okay with you?"</p>
<p>His meaning was plain, and Riku gulped, nervous. Yet all he could do was nod, and push himself off the floor. "It's fine. It's <em>your</em> cabin, after all."</p>
<p>It was much harder to ignore Sora's nudity now that it was on full display in his arms, but Riku kept his eyes front as he carried him to the bed and gently lay him under the cover. He was tempted to throw himself in bed as well, but after his time in the water tank, his clothes were soaked through as well.</p>
<p>"I'm—gonna have to take those off," he said, unable to keep nervousness from seeping into his voice.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Sora said in a sleepy voice—though when Riku glanced at him, his eyes were wide open.</p>
<p>It almost felt like a challenge, and Riku decided to take it, holding Sora's gaze as he peeled his shirt from his skin, then his boots, his trousers. Even his undergarments were wet, and he discarded those, as well. Only the bandage on his arm remained—he decided to was best not to touch that.</p>
<p>Sora's eyes on Riku felt like they were lighting his skin on fire, but he said nothing. So, finally, Riku turned away, hanging his clothes on the back of the couches to dry, then walking around the bed to join Sora under the covers.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>As the Leviathan reaches Nassau, Riku chooses to make a change</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Morning greeted Riku groggy and badly-rested. Between the rush of adrenaline from falling into the tank, and the warmth of Sora's presence under the cover, their bare bodies just inches away from one another, sleep eluded him for most of the night.</p><p>Yet he must have fallen asleep at some point, because he woke up in a jolt. Sora was still asleep next to him, but much closer than Riku remembered. He had turned to face Riku at some point, his breath ghosting on Riku's lips.</p><p>Transfixed, Riku remained perfectly still, his pulse raging in his ear. He had felt the urge at the back of his mind since that first morning, but like this, it was impossible to ignore, impossible to deny how badly he wanted the man—<em>merman</em>, he corrected mentally—in front of him.</p><p>This wasn't something he'd ever allowed himself to feel before, in Port Royal, where society and his father would cast him out for it, but he'd always known it was there, at the back of his mind. Even if he'd never felt it as strongly as he did now, with Sora. His captor. His liberator.</p><p>He remembered what Sora told him when he first offered Riku to sleep in this bed. That the pirates of the Leviathan—of Nassau—wouldn't look down on him for it. Which left one question to answer: what would <em>Sora</em> think?</p><p>He reached out, his fingers brushing against Sora's cheek with a featherlight touch. In the stillness of early morning, it felt like a dream, like it could all fade if he made any sudden movement.</p><p>Yet when Sora's eyelids flew open, Riku didn't feel startled or afraid. The dream didn't fade around them. It didn't feel like being found out so much as an answer in a silent conversation.</p><p>Riku inched forward until his head rested on the same pillow as Sora's, their faces even closer together. He waited for Sora to understand the question, and finally, Sora nodded, subtly, imperceptibly, more a tug on the pillow's fabric than a visible movement.</p><p>But it was all Riku needed: he pressed his lips to Sora, a cold dread seizing his body even as warm elation exploded into his chest. He wasn't sure what came next, but he'd crossed the line and opened the floodgates.</p><p>Sora's hand found his side and pulled him closer, pressing their bodies flush together. For a moment, Riku expected him to take control completely, to climb on top of him, but Sora remained on his side, keeping Riku against him as he began kissing him back, hot and hungry.</p><p>Riku melted into this kiss, years of inhibitions unraveling in just an instant and giving way to raw heat. This was his young self's curiosity, his repressed teenaged passions, his adult frustrations balling up all into one and imploding within him, reshaping him all at once into someone new. Someone truer. Someone more <em>Riku</em> than Riku had been…possibly ever. It was triumph and abandon, pain and pleasure, strength and weakness.</p><p>But it wasn't regret. Never regret.</p>
<hr/><p>They didn't speak much afterwards; they simply lay in bed, limbs tangled together, bathing in each other's warmth, Sora dozing off with his head resting on Riku's chest, just above his heart. There didn't seem to be anything worth saying just yet, and besides, Riku wasn't sure he could talk.</p><p>He felt like he had transformed, in a manner at least as fundamental as whenever Sora was in that water tank. He needed some time to know himself in this new form that he inhabited, so he was glad Sora allowed him the quiet he needed.</p><p>With the heat of desire quenched in his mind for now, doubt gnawed at him again, but it wasn't doubt regarding Sora himself. Intellectually, he knew there was something off about choosing the man who had captured him as his partner for this new experience, but deep down in his heart, he knew even more strongly that this wasn't the wrong choice. All he needed was to press his face against Sora's hair and feel the rushed beating of his heart as he breathed in his scent to know this.</p><p>No, instead, his doubt was a far more insidious one: how could he ever go back? Go home to Port Royal, and pretend he was still the Governor's son, prim and proper, with a father desperate for him to attract a girl with enough resources to her name to consolidate his ambitions?</p><p>He <em>could</em> do it, he knew that much; he could force himself, as he had all these years. But he didn't know if he could <em>survive</em> this life again. Not now that he knew what he would be giving up on. With or without Sora, that remained true.</p><p>Riku shook his head, pushing those questions to the back of his mind. There would be time to answer them later, when he and Sora had reached the end of their bargain. Time to figure out who he wanted to be—and what his options actually were.</p><p>His movement caused Sora to stir, and he propped himself up on his elbows, looking at Riku with a sleepy smile. "All good?" he simply asked, barely above a whisper.</p><p>Riku nodded. "All good." This felt like the truth; his turmoil didn't change that <em>this</em> was good. It had to be.</p><p>"Good," Sora repeated. "I don't want you to feel regret about this."</p><p>"I thought regret wasn't part of a pirate's vocabulary," Riku teased.</p><p>"But is it part of yours?"</p><p>Riku cut through the banter. "I don't regret this."</p><p>"You can tell me if you do. I won't—" He let out a chuckle, and it took a moment for Riku to realize it was self-deprecating. "You're not in danger from me. You know that, right?"</p><p>Did he? "I think pirates are inherently dangerous," he said. "Because your life is dangerous. And so it's dangerous to be around you, too. But—no, I don't think you'd cause me harm. You saved my life three times now." The shipyard, the ocean, and the water tank. It was a strange revelation to Riku himself, laying it all out like that. "I could give you my heart, and it too would be safe with you."</p><p>An uncertain smile came to Sora's lips. "I'm a pirate. You can't <em>give</em> me your heart. I'd have to take it."</p><p>"Well—in a sense, you did. Maybe I'm just coming around to accepting that."</p><p>"Or maybe I'm only your first tryst, and I'm taking advantage of you without you realizing it." With that rebuttal, Sora pushed himself up to his knees, looking down at Riku with a smug smile.</p><p>Still, Riku shook his head, unfazed. "I don't think you are, though. Call it intuition."</p><p>Sora's smile grew more confident just before he averted his gaze. "I need to dive back in for a moment," he said. "We should arrive in Nassau this morning; I need to be at full capacity when we go on land."</p><p>"Don't you miss being a merman?" Riku couldn't help but ask. "Compared to swimming freely in the ocean, being stuck on a ship must be suffocating."</p><p>"Well, ships <em>are</em> a lot faster as a means of transportation," Sora said as he stood. He stretched with the same languid grace he always did; this time, though, Riku felt no shame in looking. "And the freedom I gained from being a pirate more than made up for what I lost."</p><p>Even if he didn't know much about Sora's life, Riku could understand that, at least. He was certainly starting to feel something like that himself. "Can I join you?" he impulsively said. "In the water."</p><p>"Join me?" Sora looked back at him, surprised. "That desperate to flirt with death?"</p><p>"I'm not scared to be in that tank if <em>you're </em>there."</p><p>With a chuckle, Sora shrugged. "All right. Then get up. My crew's gonna wonder where I am soon." In spite of his admonishment, the moment Riku was out of the bed, Sora pulled him close into a playful kiss, and Riku happily let him.</p><p>The walk up the steps was slow and frequently interrupted, but finally, they stood on the edge of the aquarium, their arms wrapped around each other.</p><p>"Ready?" Sora asked, eyes bright.</p><p>Riku nodded. "Ready."</p><p>The leapt into the water together, sinking to the bottom of the tank quickly. Sora's legs turned into a tail again, and it wrapped around Riku's legs, firm yet gentle, the strength of it soothing and comforting. Sora kissed him again while they were underwater, but when Riku kissed him back, he felt Sora <em>breathing</em> into him, filling his lungs with fresh air. Confused, Riku pulled away, questioning Sora with his eyes.</p><p>Sora, however, just smiled and spoke. "The kiss of the merfolk. Don't they teach you <em>anything</em> about my people these days?"</p><p>Riku frowned briefly, before Nova's stories returned to his mind. Still, even with Sora encouraging nod, it was hard to convince his body to try breathing underwater.</p><p>When he did, though, tentatively taking in a small breath, he found that it felt like breathing air. Fresh and salty, like the breeze by the ocean, but still air. "This is—" he said, then he cut himself off. He was speaking—<em>speaking!</em> Underwater! It seemed impossible, even after witnessing Sora do it multiple times, and yet here he now was, doing it himself. "This is amazing," he finally said.</p><p>"This isn't given lightly," Sora said before kissing him again briefly. Riku wasn't sure what he meant, but there was a forlorn look in Sora's eyes, one that demanded comfort, so he nodded.</p><p>"Thank you, Sora. Not just for this kiss." He wasn't sure he could properly explain everything he meant to say, so for now, this would have to do.</p>
<hr/><p>It wasn't long after they made it out onto the deck that Donald, stationed in the crow's nest, called for land ahead.</p><p>"Nassau," Sora said, a giddy smile on his lips. "We're home."</p><p>His smile was contagious, even though Riku couldn't help but be a little apprehensive about coming here. He was still a Governor's son walking into a pirate haven; there was no telling what would happen to him here.</p><p>Sora seemed to sense his nervousness and turned towards him. "Stay close to me," he said in a low voice. "And try to blend in. You're not here as my prisoner, or as the son of Governor Xehanort of Port Royal."</p><p>"But I am those things," Riku pointed out.</p><p>Sora flinched subtly at his retort, but didn't deny them. "All anyone in Nassau needs to know is that you're the key I need. And if I have anything to say about it, that's all they <em>will</em> know until we've already set sail. The Leviathan is fast enough that no one should have heard about our raid on Port Royal yet, and my crew is under strict instructions."</p><p>"And do you trust them?" He said so without malice or sarcasm. They <em>were</em> pirates, and a large crew besides. Riku couldn't imagine so many people keeping a secret.</p><p>However, Sora raised his head, defiant. "I do. They wouldn't be my crew otherwise."</p><p>His tone allowed for no argument, and Riku didn't have one to make anyway. His skepticism aside, he couldn't possibly begin to know how a pirate crew worked. Instead he kept his eyes on the horizon, waiting for the moment the island of New Providence would come into view.</p><p>It was only a few hours later that they came into the harbor. A low trepidation spread across the Leviathan the closer they were to the city, which Riku got to see from up close as he and Sora ate breakfast in the mess hall. It seemed to be a tradition for Sora to eat with his crew when they were about to make land, but Riku was a little thankful for it too. After this morning, he felt like he needed some more time to process before he was alone with Sora in his cabin again.</p><p>Finally, the low, rumbling anticipation gave way to loud excitement when the Leviathan came to port. Sora went to steer his ship into the harbor, while a few of his crewmen rushed across the deck in a lively chaos that Riku couldn't follow, even had his attention not been called by the city sprawled out in front of him as he stood at the ship's bow.</p><p>The first thing that called his attention was the fort looming over the city, which he knew wasn't manned by any colonial power; below it, the city looked eerily similar to his home. Yet there was also an air of difference Riku couldn't name, something in the way people carried themselves, in the way the city was laid out. The subtle differences felt like an echo of how Riku felt within since this morning—or perhaps he was imagining it all.</p><p>"Ready to go?" Goofy's voice startled Riku, making the old pirate laugh. "Cap'n's waiting for you."</p><p>It took Riku a moment to regain his composure, and he nodded. "Yeah. I'm ready." He wasn't sure if it was true, but he guessed he <em>had</em> to be. "Where are we going anyway?"</p><p>"We're meeting the people who can help us," Donald said as he dropped down from the crow's nest above on a cable. "The council."</p><p>"There's a pirate council?"</p><p>"Sort of," Goofy replied. "They don't hold any actual power—it's just a loose group of pirate captains in Nassau, trying to work together with representatives of the citizens to make sure things run smoothly."</p><p>"Any captain can sit on the council," Donald said with a sidelong glance towards Sora as he walked towards them from the Leviathan's stern.</p><p>Goofy nodded. "And since crews choose their captains, it's a way to make sure everybody's voices are heard."</p><p>Riku made a noncommittal sound. "And they can help us…do what, exactly?"</p><p>That was when Sora caught up to them, grinning. "They've got our map," he simply said, sounding suddenly brasher than over the past few days, as if slipping into a character.</p><p>"There's a <em>map</em> to the Heart of the Sea?"</p><p>"Uh-huh. Come on, I'll explain on the way." As if to demonstrate, Sora leapt over the railing, grabbing hold of a rope ladder, which he climbed down to the dock below.</p><p>It was all Riku could do to follow, with Donald and Goofy close behind. When they hit the dock, Sora waved to Yozora, and he fell into step beside them as well. Riku noticed that all four of them were wearing weapons: Sora's Keyblade holstered at his back, Donald carrying the massive staff with which he'd once knocked out Riku, Goofy with a cutlass and a shield at his belt, and Yozora wore a sword belt and carried a crossbow in his hand, on open display.</p><p>"Is the city…safe?" Riku couldn't help but ask.</p><p>Yozora was the one who replied, an amused glint in his mismatched eyes. "Usually. Most people play by the code and know that they'll be run out of the city if they try anything. But—you never know."</p><p>Sora nodded. "Especially when a ship comes into harbor from a raid. Some people think it's worth the chance to get a piece of our loot."</p><p>"You never know who might be desperate enough to try something," Yozora added.</p><p>"Yeah, well," Sora said, "you can't eliminate all risk."</p><p>Their words did nothing to appease Riku, and he couldn't help but let his gaze dart around suspiciously. Yet the people looked just like <em>people</em>, for the most part, going about their day as they would in Port Royal. "I've never gone out in Port Royal without an escort," he said softly, to himself as much as for the others' benefit. "Even though there were soldiers everywhere to keep the peace." There were no uniformed soldiers here, or anyone with a similar attitude, vigilant and ever-dangerous.</p><p>"Yeah, we don't do that, here," Sora said. "When people are only ever taught to behave because they're afraid of the punishment, it just creates more fear. The people of Nassau are working together of their own free will."</p><p>"Of their own free will, huh," Riku repeated, the phrase feeling alien on his tongue. He didn't know what to say to that without sounding dismissive in spite of himself, so he changed the topic. "So, what were you saying about a map?"</p><p>Goofy didn't miss a beat to reply. "The Heart of the Sea is an old relic of the merfolk, and it's been lost for ages. For the longest time, people thought it was just a legend, until Captain Turner found its hiding place."</p><p>"Captain Turner?" Riku repeated. "The Pirate King?"</p><p>Yozora chuckled. "It's only a title she was given when she led the pirates into battle against the West Indies Company. She's part of the reason we were able to turn Nassau into what it is, but she doesn't rule over us."</p><p>Riku bit back another question. He'd never realized the legendary Pirate King was a woman, or that she wasn't a king at all. Though he supposed it made sense, looking at the way Sora spoke of kings. "So, she found the Heart of the Sea. Then what?"</p><p>"Well, she couldn't take it," Sora said. "Like I told you, it's protected. But Captain Turner drew a map."</p><p>"The council keeps it," Goofy explained. "It was decided that the only way someone could go find the Heart of the Sea was with the blessing of the entire community."</p><p>"That way, the map can't fall into the wrong hands," Donald added.</p><p>Riku nodded, trying to follow. "So we have to convince them that—what, exactly?"</p><p>"That we can get to it and bring it back," Yozora said. "And that we <em>will</em>, without selling it out instead."</p><p>"Is that something you could <em>do</em>?"</p><p>"It's only magic that grants control over the seas," Yozora retorted snidely.</p><p>"None of the European Kings are fond of Nassau," Sora said. "We've had many privateers pretend to defect in order to join our community, then try to sabotage it from within."</p><p>"Huh." That was all Riku could say. While the idea of the King's forces using underhanded tactics wasn't something that shocked him, exactly, it felt like a strangely honorless way to deal with pirates, when their lack of honor was often touted as the reason they needed to be brought back under the Crown's control. "So—how are you planning to do that?"</p><p>"Easily," Sora said with a smug grin. "The council knows me. It should be fine." Looking at the rest of their group, Riku wondered how warranted his optimism was.</p><p>Riku had been expecting them to meet the council at the fort, but Sora took a turn in another street, walking away from it. Instead, the building they stopped at was a large, wooden house, looking more like an inn than a seat of power.</p><p>When they walked inside, Riku realized that it <em>was</em> an inn—of a sort. The vast room they entered, taking up the entire ground floor of the building, was partitioned into smaller areas, each furnished with a few couches and a table between them. A tavern, Riku thought at first—until he noticed the people sitting in some of these corners. Some were groups of two or three people, other were occupied by once person alone, and all were entertained by young, scantily-clad men and women, all hovering far closer to their patrons than any waiter Riku had ever known.</p><p>One of them, a man younger than Riku with wild, jet-black hair and ferocious golden eyes, walked up to their group as they entered. His clothes looked to be a single piece of red linen, folded and draped expertly to cover up just enough of him as not to be indecent, but enough to show his strong arms, the tautness of his chest, and the bare, inviting flesh of his thighs. Riku was almost about to pass out from having such a tantalizing display in front of him.</p><p>Luckily, none of the man's attention was on him. "Captain Sora," he said, in a tone that managed to strike a surprising balance between condescending and sultry. "Back so soon? And with so many friends?"</p><p>If Sora was in any way ashamed of the implication, he didn't let it show. "I'm here to speak to the council, Vanitas."</p><p>"Your loss," Vanitas said with a shrug. Still, he motioned at them to follow, and led the way up the staircase at the center of the room. They reached a set of double doors on the landing at the top, where Vanitas paused. "Wait here," he said before slipping inside.</p><p>As they waited, Riku looked around. The rest of the second floor was divided into hallways, each leading, from where he could see, into a multitude of rooms. From the sounds he could overhear, some of these rooms were already occupied.</p><p>"Something on your mind?" Yozora asked him, tearing him away from his observation.</p><p>Riku felt himself blush. "Just—didn't think we'd be meeting the council in a place like <em>this</em>." Yozora chuckled, and Riku, feeling embarrassed at his own prudishness, added, "Aren't you guys all about freedom? How do prostitutes fit into this?"</p><p>"I assure you the people who work here chose the life," a woman's voice answered him. Turning around, Riku saw that Vanitas had exited the room, preceded by a young woman. She was short, yet held herself with authority, in spite of being surrounded by armed pirates. Her golden dress highlighted her dark skin, and the black curls of her hair were as artfully arranged as any high-society woman Riku had met in Port Royal.</p><p>Sora ignored the glare she directed at Riku and stepped forward. "Max! Lovely seeing you." Turning to Riku, he said, "Max owns this fine establishment. She's also one of Nassau's representatives on the council."</p><p>"The only one who matters, some would say," Max added.</p><p>"I—meant no offense, Madam," Riku stammered, embarrassed. "I'm just not used to—"</p><p>Max cut him off with a giggle. "Who's the new recruit?" she asked Sora. "He looks like he needs to be broken in. I could arrange that."</p><p>"I've got it handled," Sora replied with a grin, making Riku choke on his own saliva. "Thanks for the offer, though. Can we come in?"</p><p>"You can," she said, though she didn't step aside or led the way in. "I assume it's time, then?"</p><p>Sora nodded. "I have an in."</p><p>"You have perfect timing. She's here. Come on in, let's hear it."</p><p>She walked into the room, and Sora followed her. Hesitant, Riku stood where he was, glancing at the others, but Goofy waved him in as Donald and Yozora were already going inside. Allowing himself one nervous gulp, Riku walked into the council room.</p><p>He wasn't sure what he expected the council of pirate captains to look like, but the image he found inside looked more like a gathering of friends. Two men and one woman sat around a round table, aside from Max herself. The tabletop was carved and painted to be a map of the Caribbean Sea, which made it odd how glasses, pitchers, bottles and mugs were strewn around the table, seemingly with no care to avoid making a stain or damaging the artwork.</p><p>Riku had expected there to be more than four people on the council, though, from what the others had told him, any captain could speak here. Perhaps there were no true, permanent members?</p><p>The two men were shockingly different: one was tall, with long, dark, braided hair wrapped in a red bandana. As he stood to greet them, even the way he moved struck Riku as eccentric. The other one was short—shorter than even Max—with a round face and rounder ears, and his smile was warm as he greeted Sora.</p><p>As for the woman, she was tall, dressed in men's clothes, her blond hair clearly voluminous even as it was tucked into a tricorn hat. Her greeting for Sora was kind, but there was strength in her motions as well. More importantly to Riku, though, was that her sharp, fine features immediately struck a chord in his memory.</p><p>"You're Elizabeth Swann," he said, incredulous. He had seen her portrait in the Governor's house—his father had never gotten rid of it even after he was appointed to the position, even though she was the previous Governor's daughter. People in Port Royal believed her missing, or dead.</p><p>"Elizabeth Turner, these days," she replied, tilting her head back with caution and curiosity as she examined Riku. "Have we met?"</p><p><em>Turner</em>. As in <em>Captain Turner</em>, the Pirate King. Somehow, after finding out she was a woman, Riku had not thought it possible to be any more surprised by her identity. He cleared his throat, embarrassed that he had opened his mouth at all. "Um—no, we haven't, Captain. I just heard about you, in Port Royal."</p><p>"You're from Port Royal?" She turned to Sora, raising her eyebrow. "Care to explain?"</p><p>"Riku is a guest," Sora simply said, casting Riku a pointed look that spoke volumes and told him to <em>shut his mouth now</em>. "A guest who has been friends with a witch since they were both very young."</p><p>"A witch?" the tall men asked, stepping back as if by reflex. "Have we not dealt with enough of those?"</p><p>"To be fair, Jack," Elizabeth said, "Tia Dalma wasn't <em>really</em> a witch."</p><p>"We haven't heard of a witch in <em>years</em>," the short man said, cutting off Jack's protest. "Are you positive?"</p><p>Sora nodded. "Even better—Riku has the witch's first charm." He fished Riku's pendant from under his shirt and held it up to the light. "Right here, unblemished, fresh and unused. And it's a protection charm, to boot."</p><p>Max immediately drew closer to Sora, looking at the pendant more closely. Elizabeth stood up, and walked around the table to peer at it as well. Then she turned to the short man. "Mickey? You know more about these things than any of us do."</p><p>"I trust Sora's judgment," Mickey said, "but—may I have a look?" He looked at both Sora and Riku as he asked. Sora glanced back to Riku as well. He nodded, nervously wondering if there was any risk here.</p><p>Sora unclasped the pendant, and carefully handed it to Mickey, who manipulated it with the utmost delicacy, examining every facet of it.</p><p>"There's definitely magic here," he said. "Strong magic—stronger than I've seen in many years. It's <em>raw</em> magic, in a sense, very pure and instinctive. As to whether or not it's a witch's first, I have to defer to Sora's expertise."</p><p>There was a frown on Max's brow, and Elizabeth looked none too pleased at the answer. Sighing, she said, "So we are to believe the man who's been hounding us for years for the map when he says that he really has found the one thing we know can get us the Heart of the Sea?"</p><p>"Hey!" Sora protested. "Way to imply I'd just <em>lie</em>!"</p><p>"Sora <em>does</em> have a knack for finding magic," Max pointed out. "Just look at his ship."</p><p>"And his weapon," Mickey said.</p><p>"And we've all heard his crewmen talk about his <em>luck</em>," Jack interjected. "But that's exactly the problem, isn't it? If anyone could do it, it's you—so it's rather curious that you did, and it came in the form of a young man from Port Royal who knew our dear Elizabeth from the before-times. Riku, was it?"</p><p>Riku squirmed at the question, suddenly remembering the raid on Port Royal. Sora had recognized him just by hearing his name; could any of them similarly guess who he was now? Why had Sora volunteered his name at all?</p><p>"I've worked to help build Nassau since it was barely a dream in our hearts," Sora said. "Don't act like I don't love this city as much as any of you."</p><p>"Just asking questions, mate," Jack said, inching closer to Riku. Donald and Goofy stepped out in front of him, barring the way. Their weapons remained where they were, but the intent was clear.</p><p>Riku wondered if the situation would worsen, until Max spoke out. "I move to grant Sora's request."</p><p>"Should we really vote?" Elizabeth asked, her hands planted on the table as she looked at the map, thoughtful. "Just the four of us?"</p><p>"We <em>are</em> the ones who designed the system to keep your map safe, Captain Turner," Mickey said. "Us four—and Sora. If anyone should get a say, it's the five of us."</p><p>Elizabeth looked up at Sora, and sighed again. "I still remember the day you joined my crew," she said. "And you did help us build Nassau more than almost any captain. I'm not questioning your loyalty—I'm <em>not</em>," she cut off Jack's protest before it came. "But you'll have to be extremely cautious. If the map and the charm fall into the same hands—"</p><p>"Then send two ships," Jack suggested. "One with the map, one—"</p><p>"And what would <em>that</em> help?" Max asked. "Both ships would need a heading."</p><p>"Besides, speed is of the essence," Sora said. "I made a deal." His gaze remained fixed on the council in front of him, but Riku could almost sense Sora fighting the urge to look at him. "And the sooner we get the Heart of the Sea, the sooner we can get it to safety, here in Nassau."</p><p>"Do you really think that someone else could gain access just <em>now</em>?" Max asked.</p><p>It was Elizabeth who answered. "I know how these things tend to go," she said. "Magic tends to attract magic. No one is ever alone on a trail like that." She nodded, and wearily said, "All right, I agree. I'm in favor."</p><p>"Me too!" Mickey added with far more enthusiasm.</p><p>There was a moment of silence, then all heads turned to Captain Jack. "You've already reached a consensus," he said. "You don't need <em>my</em> vote."</p><p>Elizabeth's look at him was frighteningly stony, but she said nothing, turning to Sora instead. "All right. It's decided. I'll give you the map, and you'll be on your way as soon as the Leviathan is ready to set sail." She moved to the back of the room, and revealed a necklace under her own shirt. Two keys hung on it: with one, she opened a chest, and retrieved a satchel from it, which she slid across the table to Sora. "You will retrieve the Heart of the Sea, and bring it back to Nassau immediately. Do we have an accord?"</p><p>Sora smiled. "Aye aye, Captain Turner."</p>
<hr/><p>There was plenty to do before the Leviathan could leave Nassau, restocking above it all, as well as disposing of the loot taken from Port Royal—and, Riku imagined, previous raids before it. He tried not to think too hard about how some of the things he saw carried off the ship were from his hometown, maybe even belonged to people he knew. He was finally finding his footing among the crew; he'd have to make his peace with this part of their life.</p><p>Sora and Yozora shared overseeing these tasks, and more, such as managing the crew and rotating people in and out of it. There were always those who wished to remain on land for a time, and others who wanted to join the ship; though for this journey, Sora insisted on freezing all applications until the next time they came to port. It might leave them with a smaller crew than usual, but it was clear Sora himself was aware of the risks, should someone who hadn't been properly vetoed joined this mission.</p><p>As for Riku, he was at a loss for what to do. He had no way of helping Sora in his tasks, but no reason to go anywhere that wasn't the Leviathan. The city of Nassau filled him with curiosity, but he wasn't confident that he could safely go explore it on his own.</p><p>When Sora took a break to eat a quick meal, he cast Riku an intrigued look. "You know you're free to go about, right? I already told you you're not my prisoner."</p><p>Riku bit back the first question that burned at his lips: <em>What am I to you, then?</em> There was a playfulness to Sora's words that made him want to reply in kind, so instead, he said, "Are you sure? I could stow away on another ship and go back home. Or tell people who I am. <em>Someone's</em> bound to want that ransom, even if you don't."</p><p>"But you won't go without <em>this</em>, will you?" Sora pointed at his pendant, and though it was hidden beneath his shirt, Riku understood. Sora shifted in his seat, looking at Riku with renewed curiosity. "You could have taken it last night—or this morning. But you didn't. I think there's something else that keeps you here. Not just the pendant, not even our deal." He grinned, and added, "Not even <em>me</em>, I don't think." Riku blushed at that, which made him laugh. "I don't think you'll run away."</p><p>Riku averted his gaze, trying to regain his composure. "Well…you're not wrong, I suppose. I wasn't actually going to leave." He couldn't help but smile as he said the words. "Guess I just don't know what to do with myself."</p><p>"You should see Nassau while you can. It might be your only occasion, right?" It didn't feel like a purely rhetorical question, but Riku didn't know what to answer, so he said nothing. "I'll tell Donald and Goofy to go with you, if you don't want to be on your own. We'll meet up in the evening, when I'm done over here. Okay?"</p><p>That was how Riku ended up back on the streets of Nassau, with two pirates he was starting to think of as friends, even though he had only known them for a handful of days.</p><p>The pair showed him everything they knew about the city, which, as it turned out, was a lot of it, from the stores to the places where one could spend time relaxing outside, as well as their favorite establishments. They insisted on getting Riku new clothes to wear, rather than the one outfit he had borrowed from Yozora. Riku still went for a similar style, if only because they were comfortable and practical, giving him a wide range of motion. Besides, though he wouldn't say so out loud, he liked the way Sora looked at him in those clothes.</p><p>Speaking of Sora, as promised, he met up with them as the sun set over Nassau, still carrying Elizabeth's satchel with the map. Donald was already back on the Leviathan: he had offered to carry Riku's purchases back to the ship, and no matter how much Riku had insisted he could do that himself, he hadn't budged. When Sora arrived, Goofy left as well, and this time, Riku was certain there was a knowing look in his eyes as he bade them farewell.</p><p>"I was thinking you might want to spend the night on land," Sora said. "Max and I have a deal; she lets me have a room to myself whenever I'm in Nassau."</p><p>Riku's traitorous heart immediately raced at the mere implication behind Sora's words. "I, um—"</p><p>As his hesitation stretched out, Sora made a reassuring smile. "No pressure to do anything."</p><p>"That's not—" Riku started, then stopped. It had been easy to ignore the turmoil of his emotions when he was too busy focusing on the day's events, but now… "I just think we should talk, first."</p><p>Sora gave a single, sharp nod. "All right."</p><p>"But—we don't have to talk <em>here</em>. I guess it's best if we do that in private, really."</p><p>"So, am I to understand you're going along with my idea to spend the night at Max's establishment after all?"</p><p>Riku didn't answer immediately, but only because he didn't want to sound too eager. "Yes?" he finally replied, sounding too hesitant in his own ears.</p><p>Sora, however, only chuckled. "Okay. Come on, let's head there."</p><p>He took Riku's hand, and just like that, they were off. The city felt less like a mystery to Riku now that he'd spent an entire afternoon walking its streets, but being led by Sora like this, he felt dizzy all over again—though he doubted the unfamiliar layout of the streets had much to do with it this time. Especially considering what their destination was.</p><p>Then again, they weren't going actually use the services of Max's workers. Or were they? Was that part of Sora's plan? Riku wasn't sure how he would react if that were the case.</p><p>His panicked thoughts bounced around in his mind along with the rush of excitement at the thought of being alone with Sora, so much so that he almost didn't realize it when they had arrived. "Max?" Sora said, calling her attention away from two of her girls. "Do you have a room available?"</p><p>"You already know the answer to that," she replied simply. Then she looked at Riku, and a small smile formed on her lips. "There's a lot of your father in you," she said.</p><p>Riku froze, bracing for an attack, but Sora only laughed. "I <em>knew</em> you'd figured it out, back there, Max. That's why you started the vote, isn't it? Because Jack was starting to question him?"</p><p>"You weren't doing a very good job of keeping your secret," she pointed out, deadpan. "Someone had to do it for you."</p><p>Sora shrugged. "Well, thanks for the help, then. And for the room. And—can I push it and ask for dinner, too?"</p><p>Max scoffed, but she nodded. "That'll cost you, but I can have it arranged."</p><p>"You're the best!"</p><p>"It's your usual—" Max said, but Sora was already dragging Riku upstairs, then up another flight of stairs Riku hadn't even seen earlier. He clearly knew the way by heart, and Riku tried to not to think too hard about what that could mean. Best to focus on now, and what <em>this</em> meant.</p><p>The bedroom wasn't anything special, just one large bed and a vanity. But the bed was comfortable as Sora sat him down on it, and the place was clean; Riku guessed that was all it needed to be.</p><p>"So," Sora said, sitting at the food of the bed—next to Riku, but a short distance away. "Talking."</p><p>Riku couldn't help but chuckle at how on edge he seemed. In a strange way, it made it easier on Riku to know it wasn't just him. "I just—where do we stand? What did this morning—<em>mean</em>?"</p><p>"Does it have to mean anything?" Riku flinched at Sora's words, who grimaced. "Sorry. Wrong way to put it." He looked away, tilting his head back with a sigh, then dramatically let himself flop back on the bed. "What do you <em>want</em> it to be?"</p><p>He was staring at the ceiling, but Riku's eyes were on Sora, trying to untangle the emotions Sora elicited within him. "I—don't know where to start."</p><p>Sora turned his head and met his gaze. "Why not at the beginning? You kissed me; why did you?"</p><p>Riku blushed, his body responding to the mere memory of it. "I just—wanted to. And I thought perhaps, you would want me to."</p><p>"Well, I did. In case it wasn't clear."</p><p>Riku chuckled. "I never allowed myself to dwell on it. What I wanted. I spent my entire life knowing I'd have to marry a woman to benefit my father. Even before I realized that I would never <em>love</em> a woman, I never thought I could afford to—" He stopped, because he wasn't sure where he was going with this.</p><p>"So was it just because you had an opportunity? You were taken by pirates, so what the hell, you can pretend it was all a bad dream once you go back home? I was just <em>there</em>?" There was a tense note to Sora's voice, almost indignant.</p><p>"N-no!" Riku stuttered. "I mean, it's true that this is the first time I feel—<em>free</em>." It felt too real to say it out loud, and yet, at the same time, it was nice to have someone to talk to about it. "I know you say I'm not your prisoner, but the truth is, I'm not here by choice. But at the same time, we made a deal, and that deal? That was the first time I truly got to decide something major in my life." He sighed in frustration. "It's all one big contradiction. And it doesn't help—everything else." He waved between the two of them, hoping his meaning was plain. "But what I mean is, it's not a bad dream I'll just wake up from—it's pretty much the opposite of that."</p><p>"The opposite?" Sora sounded mildly confused, which Riku could certainly understand.</p><p>"It's like…now that I've allowed myself to <em>feel</em> this, I don't know how I can go back to ignoring it."</p><p>His words hung between them in silence, Riku looking at his own feet to avoid looking at Sora.</p><p>Sora sat up on the bed, and reached out, tilting Riku's face towards him. Only when Riku met his gaze did he say, "Sounds to me you know exactly what you want <em>this</em> to be, then."</p><p>"Maybe," Riku said. His heart was pounding in his chest. "But—"</p><p>"But?"</p><p>"What do <em>you</em> want? I just—can't figure it out."</p><p>"Well, you can't figure it out if you won't even ask, can you?" Sora smiled. "I know what you're thinking. I'm the big bad pirate, dashing and uncontrollable. You probably think you're just one among many."</p><p>"I—" Riku's protest died in his throat, because even if he hadn't thought it in such exact terms, the suspicion had been there.</p><p>"I've had lovers before," Sora said. "Well, I've had <em>a</em> lover before. You met him earlier—Vanitas?"</p><p>Riku frowned. "You—what?"</p><p>"I wanted to know what it was like, for humans." He tilted his head. "Which leads us to: how difficult do you think it is for me to take a lover if I can't share my secret with them?"</p><p>"I—you're hiding it from your whole crew."</p><p>Sora nodded. "True. But the whole point of a lover is intimacy, right? It doesn't seem worth the hassle for just sex. And in this city, the only people who know what I really am are you, me, and Mickey."</p><p>"Mickey? Did you and him—"</p><p>"No!" Sora cried out, revolted. "Ugh! Are you <em>crazy</em>? He's my mentor! He helped me fit in, showed me the ropes!" Then, as his disgusted outburst died down, he started laughing. "You really thought—"</p><p>"All right, knock it off" Riku chided him. "So what's your point?"</p><p>"It's like I told you this morning. This isn't given lightly." As if to complete the memory from this morning, he leaned forward, pausing just long enough to allow Riku time to back off if he wanted. When Riku didn't, he brought their lips together, kissing him softly. "I don't know what we are to each other," he said. "But I like being with you. The rest, we can figure out one step at a time."</p><p>Threading his fingers through Sora's hair, Riku pulled him back towards him, kissing him with a force he didn't know himself capable of. When they broke the kiss, he said, "Don't take me back to Port Royal. When this is all over. I never want to go back there. I never want to go back to being a liar."</p><p>Sora's eyes widened ever so slightly, his lips parted. "Our deal—"</p><p>"I'll come with you to retrieve the Heart," Riku said. "And then—I don't know. I don't want you to feel <em>stuck </em>with me, or that you owe me. But I just can't go back to that life. If you'll still have me when we're done, good, and if not, I'll figure it out. I just—"</p><p>Sora silenced him with a kiss. "I guess we can renegotiate," he said with a wicked grin. "Good thing we have all night."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Max is a character from the show Black Sails, from which I also got the idea to use Nassau as a setting. I simply couldn't resist including her in this story.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Leviathan sets sail to retrieve the Heart of the Sea.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>No negotiating took place that night, but Riku didn't exactly mind what they did instead.</p>
<p>They dozed off for a bit, but Riku woke up again before dawn. Sora was still asleep, half of his body sprawled over Riku's. For a moment, Riku worried that he'd been out of the water too long again, but his skin didn't show the distinct dryness it had the other time, and his breathing was even and peaceful. Perhaps he'd found time to go back into his aquarium during the afternoon, the previous day. Maybe he'd even planned for this exact outcome, Riku wondered. The thought was oddly exciting.</p>
<p>As he gazed at Sora's body, Riku wondered how he had ever found the strength to say what he said the night before. It felt like sealing his fate, like leaving behind everything of who he had once been. Yet he doubted he would miss much; little else beyond Nova and Kairi, he suspected. This new path was certainly dangerous, and it would not be easy, but it was at least something <em>his</em>. It was freedom—which was his to do with as he could manage.</p>
<p>The fact that Sora hadn't outright rejected him was encouraging too, even if Riku didn't dare read too much into it. This wasn't just about the man laying here with him, but Riku also couldn't deny he hoped Sora would still want him at the end of his quest. He certainly seemed to, but there was a part of Riku that forced him to caution. As long as Sora needed him, there was a possibility he was deceiving him.</p>
<p>And if he was…well, at least he had opened Riku's eyes. That part could never be taken away from him—from these moments, in the Leviathan's cabin and here, in this small room in Nassau.</p>
<p>He kissed the top of Sora's head, which caused the other man to stir and greet him with a sleepy smile. "Good morning," he said.</p>
<p>"It's not even morning yet," Riku whispered. "We could go back to sleep."</p>
<p>Sora hummed his approval, and pressed his face against Riku's chest. "Still no regrets?"</p>
<p>"None so far," Riku said, absently stroking Sora's hair. "If you want to be rid of me, you'll just have to push me out."</p>
<p>Without moving, Sora scoffed. "Well, guess <em>you're</em> stuck with <em>me</em>, then."</p>
<p>"Guess so."</p>
<p>Sora's breathing evened out again, and after a moment, Riku dozed off as well.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Eventually, morning came, forcing them to get out of bed. The Leviathan was set to depart as soon as possible today, which left them with very little time to get ready to leave. The rush didn't allow much time for distraction, or even conversation; but Riku found that the silence that hung between them was an easy, comfortable one.</p>
<p>They were the last ones to reach the ship, and though nobody commented on it, Riku could feel Donald and Goofy's gazes on him as they embarked. Their assumption didn't bother him the way it had during their trip here, though; maybe because they were actually correct now, or maybe because he had decided to embrace this part of him from now on.</p>
<p>Coming back to board the Leviathan felt like a transformative experience of its own: as he set foot on the deck, it struck him this was his first time doing so willingly. No one was forcing him to do anything anymore; moving forward, he was the only architect of his own fate.</p>
<p>He turned to Sora as the crew started to walk about the ship and prepare to steer it out of the harbor. "Can I help in any way?" he asked. If he was going to take this step in his life, he wanted to do it right.</p>
<p>Sora seemed pleasantly surprised by his question, and was silent for a moment, thoughtful. "Come on," he finally said. "I'll teach you to use the wheel."</p>
<p>It sounded like the worst place to start with—what if he did something wrong and rammed another ship?—but Riku couldn't bring himself to back out now. If Sora thought it a good idea, Riku trusted him.</p>
<p>They made it out of harbor safely, though Sora had to keep a close eye on Riku and correct his movements more than a few times in the process. Still, it felt good to<em> do</em> something, to learn.</p>
<p>"All right!" Sora said once they were clear from the Nassau harbor. "You did good for a first time, Riku. I mean it."</p>
<p>Riku refused to allow his own doubts to taint the compliment. "Thank you for letting me try," he simply said instead. With his hands on the wheel, it was like Riku could feel the whole Leviathan, the ship's strength reverberating through his entire body. It was an exhilarating feeling, compounded by the wind on his face. Once more, he was struck by how <em>freeing</em> it was to sail this ship—especially now that he was at its command.</p>
<p>"I should probably take over. I want us to sail east for a bit, until we're out of sight from the island—then we'll head towards our actual destination."</p>
<p>"I can take care of that," Riku said. He still remembered what Donald had told him about navigation, the information lodged in his mind as easily as anything his tutors at home had tried to teach him. To demonstrate, he tilted the wheel, steering the ship eastward.</p>
<p>When he glanced at Sora, he was staring at Riku, lips parted with admirative surprise. "You're a quick study."</p>
<p>"Don't know if I could do anything more complicated," Riku admitted. "But as long as we're going in a straight line away from New Providence Island…I can do that, I think."</p>
<p>Sora nodded slowly. "All right. That gives me time to study Elizabeth's map, so it works out for me." He cleared some room on the table next to the wheel, taking the map out of its satchel, and laying it over his sea chart.</p>
<p>Riku observed him out the corner of his eye, though his attention was still focused on keeping the ship steady. He thought he could grow to love this: him and Sora, plotting a new course and steering the ship together, free to follow the wind where it would push them. Even if, he had to admit, Sora was doing most of the legwork here, that was fine by him.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Elizabeth's map, it turns out, led them almost all the way back to Jamaica and Port Royal, a fact which wasn't lost on Riku. Even though the Caribbean Sea didn't feel any more familiar to him, the closer they came, the more he felt on edge at the mere thought of being close to the island that had once been his home.</p>
<p>The map, and Elizabeth's notes scribbled on it, called the location she had discovered the Observatory, connecting it to other tales and legends of the seas. It was a small, untamed island north of Jamaica—on the opposite of the island from Port Royal, which Riku thought was a small mercy. The entire location was protected by magic, even beyond from the one Riku and his protection charm were needed for on the island proper. They had to follow a precise route and use some magic of their own to disable the Observatory's wards and allow them entry.</p>
<p>Luckily, the Leviathan was itself a suitable source of that required magic, but the complex route and making sure they weren't being followed still made the trip longer than it would otherwise have been. They spent a whole week at sea, and Riku took it upon himself to use that time to reassert himself.</p>
<p>He asked and Donald for more navigation lessons, and Goofy about the years he had spent serving under Sora. He spent time with the crew, trying to get to know more of them, and to open himself up to being known by them as well.</p>
<p>Above all, he asked Yozora for sparring practices every day. With his new chosen life, he couldn't afford to be defenseless anymore, and he refused to rely on Sora's protection forever. He had never bothered putting his heart in the fencing lessons his father had thrusted upon him in his youth, but they came back to him nonetheless, allowing him to make progress faster than Yozora expected. Still, he wouldn't be joining a pirate raid anytime soon.</p>
<p>It was at Yozora's suggestion that Riku asked Sora to cut his hair one night, after Yozora had demonstrated how easily his long hair could be used against him in a scuffle, especially if he kept it free. There had been an air of sadness in Sora's eyes, but he obliged anyway. When Riku saw his reflection afterwards, he was filled with a strange sense of contentment. It wasn't too short, the locks still long enough to go in wildly different directions. It was exactly the sort of thing a gentleman would never allow himself to look like, and thus, exactly what Riku needed to look like the changed man he wanted to be.</p>
<p>"It's perfect," he told Sora. "Thank you."</p>
<p>More than mingling with the crew, though, there was always Sora himself, there by Riku's side whenever his duties weren't calling him elsewhere on the ship. There every night, too, jumping into the water tank and immediately out so that he could nestle against Riku on the couch before joining him in bed.</p>
<p>While the crew as a whole didn't know what exactly they were going after, Sora's anticipation was clearly growing stronger with each passing day. He grew more antsy, pacing the deck and admonishing his own ship for not being faster. His frustration was never directed at someone else aboard the Leviathan, but Riku still felt bad for him, and how miserable the whole situation made him feel, being so close to his goal and having to just <em>wait</em> for the wind to carry them.</p>
<p>It reached the point where, on the morning of the sixth day, some of the crew started to whisper about the Heart of the Sea by themselves. Sora's interest in the artefact, it seemed, was as well-known in the crew as among the pirate council of Nassau, and there were some who thought nothing else could put Sora in this state. Although there was one girl who teasingly asked Riku in the mess hall if he was "withholding himself", which she seemed to believe would be another valid explanation. Riku sputtered some of his drink and was unable to answer, making her laugh as she playfully nudged him with her elbow on her way out.</p>
<p>It wasn't enough to stop Riku from wondering if the other rumor was worth worrying about, however. According to Elizabeth's notes, once the barrier was disabled, it would remain open until they left the island, leaving it open to anyone—including anyone who might be spying on them.</p>
<p>"It'll be fine," Sora said with a smile when Riku brought those worries up to him that evening. Yet Riku could spot a hint of doubt in his eyes. The council had put a lot of pressure on him, and Sora himself had taken measures to make sure the Heart didn't fall into the wrong hands; it only made sense to worry that those might have all been in vain.</p>
<p>"Whatever happens, we'll be there tomorrow, right?" Riku said, suddenly feeling the urge to comfort him. "And we have yet to take down the last barrier. No one can get there before us."</p>
<p>Sora dropped his façade and leaned against Riku. "I know that. I wonder what happens after that, though."</p>
<p>"That's where I come in, right? As long as you have me and Kairi's charm, we're the only ones who can get to the Heart."</p>
<p>"Speaking of which…" Sora took the charm in his hand. "I should give it back to you," he said.</p>
<p>His other hand went up to the necklace's clasp, but Riku caught it, and closed Sora's fingers around the pendant. "Keep it. Captain Jack may have been a pain, but he had a point. Best to keep the pendant and me separate as long as possible."</p>
<p>Sora scoffed. "You think I'd let you get captured?"</p>
<p>"It's worth making sure."</p>
<p>"If you insist," Sora said, sounding dejected. "I just don't like keeping it. It's—like a reminder that I took it from you. And all that that implies."</p>
<p>"I know you'll give it back when we're done. You're only…how did you put it again? Keeping it safe?"</p>
<p>Chuckling, Sora looked back up to him. "All right, smart guy. You got me with my own words. That was good."</p>
<p>"Have to use that posh upbringing for <em>something</em>," Riku said with a half-grin.</p>
<p>"You <em>do</em> have your uses," Sora said, his gaze gaining in heat an intensity as he reached up to kiss Riku.</p>
<hr/>
<p>No other ship was in sight when they reached the island, though Riku wasn't even sure if they were in the right place. From the sea, the island looked like nothing but a tiny green spot on the horizon, growing larger as they came closer. There was nothing there that looked like an Observatory.</p>
<p>"Is this it?" he asked Sora, who was steering the ship. "I didn't even notice any wards."</p>
<p>"Well, we disabled them," Sora pointed out. "But we passed the wards about an hour ago, if you must know."</p>
<p>"You sensed them?"</p>
<p>Sora nodded, and Riku fell silent, once again aware that he had barely scratched the surface of Sora's own magical abilities. Sometimes, it was all too easy to forget that Sora had them at all, even when Riku watched him turn from one shape to another.</p>
<p>The island was soon close enough that Riku could spot the pure white stretches of its sandy beaches, the glare of the sun reflecting on it almost blinding. This was it, then. The end of their quest—of Riku's <em>first</em> quest, he hoped.</p>
<p>As they approached, the Leviathan circled the island in reconnoissance, but there was no one in sight on the beach, no signs of anyone in the jungle beyond it, and no signs of a ship, either. Instead of stopping on the beach, they dropped anchor in a cove on the island's west side, surrounded entirely by tall cliffs. It would hide the ship if anyone was on their tail after all, while they took the rowboats and circle to the southern beach, the closest one to the cove and the one mentioned on Elizabeth's map.</p>
<p>Sora left a handful of pirates on the ship to defend it, including Donald and Goofy. The rest of the crew, about sixty men and women in total, all came with them, though most of them, led by Yozora, would be staying near the beach to make sure they had a way out.</p>
<p>Riku's anticipation rose into swift anxiety as he first stepped on the sand, but there was nothing left to do but press onwards. They carried the rowboats under the cover of the trees, and Sora led the way further into the jungle, followed closely by Riku and five other pirates equipped with a variety of tools and torches, should they need them. Soon their small group was all but swallowed by the thick brush, the trees around them tall enough to block out the sun, trapping them in a dim light and an oppressive, humid air.</p>
<p>There was beauty here, but Riku had neither the time nor the energy to admire it. They trudged through the jungle for what felt like hours, and Riku had never walked this much <em>anywhere</em>, especially in such poor conditions. He felt winded, but was determined not to let it show or ask the pirates for a reprieve.</p>
<p>He was so focused on keeping up with Sora's pace that he didn't immediately notice the building that rose between the trees. The light in the jungle looked so faded that Riku thought at first that it was a grey fog, until he realized it was something very solid up ahead.</p>
<p>"The Observatory," Sora said, awestruck.</p>
<p>The ground sloped downwards around it, unlike the gentle, slow rise they had been following since the beach. Being on lower ground than the jungle, it was hidden from outside view; but now that they were coming closer, Riku marveled at it..</p>
<p>Uniformly dark grey, the Observatory appeared to be made of stone, yet there were impossible things about it. Its structure was blocky, all in squares and right angles, and layered; but unlike the pyramids of the Americas Riku had seen in Sora's books, these layers were not gradually smaller the higher they went. Instead, they looked to be progressively wider, starting from a large square base and going slightly bigger every few feet up. How the stone held itself up like that was beyond Riku's understanding; but then again, they were dealing with magic here. Anything was possible.</p>
<p>The result was a towering, irregular cube of a building, a good five stories tall, and as they stood at its base, Riku couldn't shake a feeling that there was danger here. He supposed there was, actually; after all, Sora had needed a protection charm for a reason.</p>
<p>Sora turned away from the Observatory to look at his group. "All right," he said, "it's time." He reached to the back of his neck, and unclasped the pendant, holding it out in front of Riku.</p>
<p>Riku accepted it reverently, and silently returned the charm to his own neck. The familiar weight of it felt almost strange after the time he'd spent without it, almost at odds with how drastically the rest of him had changed. Still, he was glad to have it back; it was a link to the one thing about his old life he had liked.</p>
<p>"I'm ready," he said, nodding to Sora. Ready for what, he had no idea—but he would face it.</p>
<p>"All right. Let's go."</p>
<p>There was no entrance Riku could see at first; it looked like Sora was heading straight into a wall. Yet as he approached, the stone in front of him began to glow with an intricate pattern of golden lines, then rose in the air, vanishing into the wall above.</p>
<p>Sora stood still by the entrance, his back to the rest of them. "It's just like Elizabeth said," he said softly.</p>
<p>"It's stunning," Riku said. "How is this even possible?"</p>
<p>"Who knows?" Sora retorted with a shrug. "The secrets to this place are likely lost to time. I doubt we'll ever even know its true purpose. What matters is what we came for." Sora turned back towards his crew. "It's dark in there; we'll need torches."</p>
<p>The pirates lit their torches, and passed one to Sora. Holding up in his left hand, Sora took his Keyblade from its holster with the other and walked into the darkness inside the Observatory without a shred of hesitation. The rest of them seemed less eager to go, but after a moment, Riku accepted a lit torch for himself and followed Sora. He heard three of the pirates follow him, while the other two stayed as sentries.</p>
<p>If the Observatory looked massive from the outside, it felt even more so on the inside. The darkness, barely kept at bay by the light of their torches, revealed only enough of its scale to make Riku feel even smaller by comparison. It looked as though the entire Observatory was follow, and its insides descended far underground as well, a massive, single chamber large enough to fit the entirety of the Leviathan in comfortably. A platform extended from the entrance to the center of the room, remaining at ground level. More of the glowing golden lines ran across the stone, giving just enough additional light for Riku to see where they were going.</p>
<p>At the end of the platform stood a stone pedestal, also covered in glowing lines and surrounded by empty space all on but one side. A hole was carved through it at eye level, and in that hole, a faceted gem rested, cut in the shape of a heart. Even in the dim light, it shone a bright, royal blue, as if with its own inner glimmer.</p>
<p>"Is that—" Riku started, turning to Sora.</p>
<p>"Yeah," he simply said. "This is your part. Look, here." He point at the floor ahead of them: about halfway to the pedestal, the golden lines gathered into an almost solid disc. "This is the ward. Only you can cross beyond that point."</p>
<p>"Are you even sure that I can?" Riku asked. It had never even occurred to question that until now. "Is there a way we can test this?"</p>
<p>Sora turned to him with an amused look. "Do you think I'd just ask you to blindly risk your life? This isn't a booby trap in some fairy tale, the ward was meant as a warning. Come on, I'll show you." He walked further down the platform, and Riku couldn't stop himself from reaching for Sora, to try to stop him.</p>
<p>Yet Sora stopped a few steps later, still very much alive and unharmed. The glow on the stone, however, had subtly spread in the air around him, making Riku's vision of Sora oddly fuzzy. "What's—"</p>
<p>"Watch this," Sora simply said. He held out his arm holding the torch in the direction of the pedestal, and the air grew even thicker around it. Riku could see tiny pinpricks of what looked to be golden fire licking at Sora's fingertips, as well as his torch. Sora winced slightly, but held steady for a few seconds before he pulled his hand back. "See?"</p>
<p>"Are you okay?" Riku asked. He dashed towards Sora, intending to make him retreat immediately; however, when he was a couple steps away, Sora tossed his torch forward. Riku froze as he watched it arc in the air; the golden flames reappeared, and before the torch could hit the ground, it vanished in the air completely, burned away in a flash of gold.</p>
<p>"Nothing goes through the ward," Sora explained, "but there is a warning first." He looked at Riku pointedly. "Well, for most of us, anyway."</p>
<p>It took Riku a moment to realize what Sora meant: there was none of that golden light around him at all. Curious, he stepped forward until he was next to Sora, and held out his arm. Even though his reach was longer than Sora's, that golden fire didn't manifest around him. "Is it—working?"</p>
<p>"That's the hope, isn't it?" Sora said smugly. "Look, this ward—" He held out his hand again, and immediately pulled back, as if burned. "It's painful stuff. So if your protection isn't holding up, you'll know. And if you feel <em>any</em> pain at all, I want you to come back immediately, and we'll call it off. Like I said, I'm not asking you to risk your life on this."</p>
<p>"Is it even really the Heart?" Riku asked. He tried to keep his voice low, but the Observatory echoed so much that he guessed the rest of their group could hear him anyway.</p>
<p>"Well, it looks the part," Sora said. "When Elizabeth came, a witch was with her and confirmed it, so I was confident it was the real deal. And now that I see it—" He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "Yeah. It's real."</p>
<p>Riku didn't ask him to elaborate: he knew what Sora meant, and why he wasn't explaining himself any further. "Okay," he simply said instead. "Here goes."</p>
<p>Even though he wanted to just run for it, grab the Heart of the Sea and be out as soon as possible, Riku forced himself to caution. He took each step slowly, one at a time, waiting to see if the protection from Kairi's charm was still working. It was an exhausting process, not from any physical exertion but from how stressful each step forward felt.</p>
<p>But finally, he reached the pedestal, and he was still alive. "I'm here!" he called loudly. "Now what?"</p>
<p>"Check if there isn't any other security!" Sora said.</p>
<p>"Do you—" Riku started, then caught himself. "Do you <em>think</em> there is?" he asked, hoping it was clear he was asking about magical ones.</p>
<p>"I—no, I don't," Sora said. "But check for hidden mechanisms anyway. Don't use your eyes; try to feel for them."</p>
<p>Tentatively, Riku brushed his fingertips against the pedestal, bracing for some kind of dramatic trap to trigger. But nothing happened, and the more he felt for some irregularity in the stone, the more he was fascinated by how <em>smooth</em> it actually felt. Even the glowing lines on it didn't feel any different under his fingertips. "I think it's safe," he said, more to himself than for Sora's benefit. He took a deep breath, and reached for the gem proper, freezing with his fingers around it.</p>
<p>Nothing happened.</p>
<p>Breathing a sigh of relief, Riku delicately picked up the gem, examining it more closely. It was translucent, and so <em>blue</em>, vivid and lifelike in a way that reminded Riku of Sora's ever-changing eyes. <em>Like the sea</em>, he thought to himself. If that didn't confirm that this was their prize, he didn't know what did.</p>
<p>That was as much carefulness as Riku could manage; with the Heart in hand, he wanted to be out of this creepy place as fast as possible. He dashed across the platform towards Sora, smiling and holding up the gem. "Got it," he said. "Let's go."</p>
<p>Sora nodded, and jogged alongside him towards the exit, the other pirates falling in behind them. There was no real rush, only the crawling sensation on Riku's skin.</p>
<p>Only once they made it out did Riku stop running, feeling like he could breathe more easily in the sun—dimmed as it was by the jungle and the Observatory's own shadow.</p>
<p>"Are you okay?" Sora asked gently next to him.</p>
<p>"Yeah," he said, panting. "Just—didn't want to stay in there one moment than necessary."</p>
<p>"I get what you mean," Sora said, glancing back towards the Observatory, whose entrance was already closing on its own. "Of all the places I've seen, this definitely takes the cake for creepiest. It felt like being in a tomb, but…<em>more</em>. And I've <em>been</em> in tombs."</p>
<p>Riku couldn't help but chuckle fondly at his ramblings. "Okay, well—you should have this." He held out the Heart of the Sea. "For safekeeping."</p>
<p>"Are you sure you don't want to keep it?" Sora teased. "As leverage?"</p>
<p>"A deal's a deal, right? Besides, I trust you with it."</p>
<p>A pleased smile bloomed on Sora's lips. "Well, thank you then, Master Riku."</p>
<p>He picked up the gemstone and stored it in Elizabeth's satchel, then started leading the way back to the beach.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Just as they were about to reach the beach, the group met up with Yozora, who signaled them to stand still. He pointed towards the horizon, and after a moment of peering through the trees, Riku saw what he meant: a ship was visible in the distance, a massive galleon proudly flying the English flag atop its mast. There didn't appear to be any rowboats coming towards the beach, or any English soldiers around; the ship was simply still, ominous, as if lying in wait.</p>
<p>Sora looked at it for a moment, thoughtful, yet he appeared more resigned than surprised. He motioned at his crew, directing them west, towards the cove where the Leviathan awaited them. They would have to carry the rowboats through the jungle and find another way to bypass the cliffs around the cove. It was a contingency Sora had planned for, but Riku doubted any of them liked having to use it.</p>
<p>Riku did his best to help, though even as he helped Sora, Yozora, and a few others lift their rowboat, he didn't feel like he was contributing much to the effort. Walking through the jungle alone had been difficult enough for him on its own, let alone while carrying such a heavy load. Still, he was likely more useful here than as a part of the rear guard who were tasked with alerting them, should English soldiers be coming for them after all.</p>
<p>The plan was to move across the island, to another beach on the northwest end. Judging by how long it had taken them to get to the Observatory, this would be a long trek, especially if they were following the edge of the jungle.</p>
<p>Yet it was a good thing they took the longer route, because, about half an hour later, they reached the top of the cliffs on the western shore. Below them, they could see the Leviathan in the cove; and further up ahead, a smaller ship lay at the cove's entrance.</p>
<p>When Sora saw it, he let go of their rowboat immediately, running to the edge of the cliff. Their balance unsettled, the rest of their group was forced to set the rowboat down, and Riku and Yozora came to stand by Sora's side.</p>
<p>Riku immediately understood the distress on Sora's face: the English schooner wasn't just blocking the cove's exit, but soldiers were rowing towards the Leviathan. Three rowboats, each of them full of armed soldiers. If the Leviathan's crew was all on board, these would barely pose a threat; but Sora had only left a small group on the ship. By the time they reached the beach further north and rowed around the cove to reach the Leviathan, any fighting would be over—and likely not in their favor.</p>
<p>There was nothing any of them could do—or so Riku thought. Then Sora unholstered his Keyblade and handed it to Riku, along with his hat. "Hold this for me, will you?"</p>
<p>Riku took it silently, too confused to protest; but then, Sora shrugged off his coat, shoving it at Riku's chest as well, and Riku understood. "Sora, you can't—"</p>
<p>"They're <em>my</em> crew. Donald and Goofy are down there. Like <em>hell</em> I'm going to let them get slaughtered!" He tugged his shirt over his head, toed off his boots, and pulled his trousers down as well.</p>
<p>Behind him, Yozora finally reacted. "Captain, what're you—"</p>
<p>Sora ignored him; he merely took the Keyblade back from Riku hands, leaving him with the rest of his clothes. "Get back to the ship as soon as you can. We'll need to set sail fast."</p>
<p>Before Yozora could respond, Sora leapt over the cliff in a swan dive.</p>
<p>Yozora reached forward, but Riku stopped him, awkwardly trying to balance Sora's clothes in one arm. "He'll be fine," Riku said. Yozora glanced at him, disbelief in his eyes, before looking back down.</p>
<p>He wasn't the only one; after Sora had jumped, more pirates had rushed over to the edge. Dozens of them, all watching as Sora emerged from the waves below, his dolphin tail on full display for a second before he dove back down.</p>
<p>"Is that—" someone asked.</p>
<p>"A mermaid!" another pirate said.</p>
<p>"But where's the Captain?"</p>
<p>For a brief moment, Riku felt a glimmer of hope that nobody would make the connection—but it was soon dashed. The blue trail of Sora's body was visible under the water, dashing for the rowboats at an incredible speed; and when he leapt out of the water again, slashing at the boats with his Keyblade, his hair and his weapon were far too recognizable to miss.</p>
<p>"That <em>is</em> the Captain," Yozora said under his breath. He stood up, drawing away from the cliff. "Come on!" he shouted in a clear voice, calling every pirate to attention. "We have to go back to our ship."</p>
<hr/>
<p>By the time their rowboats reached the Leviathan, the fighting was clearly over. The schooner that had been blocking the cove was a wreck, cleaved into two, the cut too neat to be the result of a ship's cannons—but very familiar to Riku's eyes, as he remembered the shipyard and the beam Sora had cut with his Keyblade.</p>
<p>As they progressed into the cove, they spotted the husks of two of the English rowboats in the water, the corpses of soldiers floating around them—though a few of them had found their way to the cliffs, huddling on a shallower part of the cove. They looked terrified, not even trying to hail the pirates for a rescue.</p>
<p>The third rowboat had made it to the Leviathan, by the looks of it. It was only when Riku made it onto the deck, and saw the dead soldiers there, that he understood those hadn't stood a chance either.</p>
<p>Amidst the carnage stood Sora, looking wild and dreadful, panting heavily with his Keyblade slung over his shoulder. He was still naked, blood splattered on his skin, and there was a feral snarl on his face. As far as Riku was concerned, he had never looked so beautiful.</p>
<p>Riku was the first to step forward. He was still carrying the bundle of Sora's clothes in his arms, and offered them to him. The moment Sora's eyes landed on him, his face changed, the wild force in him softening instantly. "Are you okay?" he asked in a whisper as he started getting dressed.</p>
<p>"Me? <em>You're</em> the one who jumped off a cliff and apparently fought a whole ship by yourself!"</p>
<p>A proud smile tugged at Sora's lips. "Yeah, well, the others helped with the third rowboat."</p>
<p>Riku snorted, then cracked into a full-on, nervous chuckle as the tension drained out of him. Watching Sora go over that cliff had been <em>terrifying</em>, and Riku had barely realized how scared he'd been until he saw that Sora was alive and well and back on board of his ship.</p>
<p>The feeling of a sword point digging into his back returned the tension to his body. "We gonna talk about this, Captain?" a voice came from behind him—Yozora's voice.</p>
<p>Sora didn't look the least bit surprised; he dropped the Keyblade, and pulled Riku to him with both hands, positioning himself between him and Yozora, and raised his hands in surrender. "I suppose we are, First Mate Yozora. Though we should really set sail before that galleon comes to check on their little English friends."</p>
<p>Yozora kept his sword raised under Sora's chin. "No. We're doing this now."</p>
<p>"The Captain saved us!" Donald shouted as he stepped forward. Before he could stand before Sora, however, Sora held out his hand, ordering him to stay put.</p>
<p>"<em>The Captain</em> is a merman," Yozora said. "Which explains a lot, doesn't it? How else can one person have access to this much magic? This much <em>good luck</em>?" He stepped back, and slowly raised his crossbow, holding it pointed at Sora's chest. "All this time, you've been wanting the Heart of the Sea. Were you just trying to get it back to your people?"</p>
<p>"No!" Sora protested "That's ridiculous! You know me, Yozora. You <em>know</em> me. You know how much I care about Nassau. It's <em>my</em> home too!"</p>
<p>"I don't believe you."</p>
<p>"I know what they took from you," Sora said, and Riku could hear a hint of desperation in his voice. "<em>Who</em> they took. But that wasn't me. That was the people I ran away from."</p>
<p>Yozora's grip on his crossbow only tightened, and his eyes narrowed with anger. "Men and women of the Leviathan! I invoke the Pirate Code. A Captain can be deposed if a majority of the crew votes for it. What do you say? Shall we keep sailing under a man—a <em>merman</em>, a creature of the deep—who lied to us all along?"</p>
<p>The fervor in his voice worried Riku, but it was only when the pirates all around him, gathered on the deck, started voicing their assent that he truly panicked.</p>
<p>"Sora?" he said softly. "What do we—" He heard Donald and Goofy stand at their backs, and a few more pirates broke rank to come support Sora, but they were far outnumbered. Riku picked up the Keyblade at his feet, handing it to Sora.</p>
<p>Yet Sora didn't move to take it. He only shook his head. "This is my ship, and you are my crew. Which is why I'm not going to fight you, especially not when our true enemy is right out there, likely lying in ambush." He held up his hands. "Do with me what you will. I only ask one thing." He turned back to look at Riku, Donald, Goofy, and the handful of pirates faithful to him. "Let any member of this crew off at Nassau if they wish to leave, without harming them."</p>
<p>"Your terms are acceptable," Yozora said coolly. "Now move!"</p>
<hr/>
<p>Riku was sent to the brig, along with the rest of the pirates who had stood by Sora's side, split up across several cells. As for Sora himself, Yozora had locked him up in his own cabin; whether it was because he knew Sora needed the aquarium, some leftover respect for him, or because he wanted Sora isolated, Riku couldn't say.</p>
<p>The moment the barred door closed on them, Donald shouted, fuming. "Traitors! This isn't over!"</p>
<p>"Calm down, Donald," Goofy said more placidly. "We can't help Sora like this."</p>
<p>"I am calm!" Donald replied, still shouting.</p>
<p>"Do you think Yozora will keep up his deal with Sora?" The pirate who had spoken was a short, black-haired girl. Riku recognized her; she had teased him about his and Sora's relationship just a few days ago. "Let us safely return to Nassau?"</p>
<p>"I don't know, Xion," their last cell mate, a blond man who had been part of the group at the Observatory group replied. Riku thought his name was Ven. "But I think so."</p>
<p>Far from being relieved by that, the girl sighed. "Well, and then what? it's not like we can just let them take over, can we?"</p>
<p>"How does the Leviathan's magic work?" Riku couldn't help but ask. "I thought it obeyed Sora. Couldn't he just…force them to accept his authority?"</p>
<p>"He probably could," Goofy replied. "But he wouldn't do that."</p>
<p>"They're his crew too," Ven said with a sigh.</p>
<p>"They turned on him!" Donald snapped, but his anger was waning, and he slumped to the floor.</p>
<p>"Did you guys know?" Riku couldn't help but ask. "About who Sora was?"</p>
<p>Donald shook his head, as did Goofy. "But it doesn't matter," Goofy said. "He's still the Sora we know."</p>
<p>"Yeah," Xion said.</p>
<p>"<em>You</em> knew, though, didn't you, Riku?" Ven asked. "I saw the way you reacted when he jumped off that cliff. You weren't surprised by it."</p>
<p>The rest of them looked at him questioningly, and with a sigh, Riku nodded. "Yeah. I've known since the first night I came on board the Leviathan."</p>
<p>"So he shared his secret with you, but not even Donald and Goofy?" Xion asked.</p>
<p>"He had to reveal himself. I managed to escape that night, and he had to jump into the ocean to stop me." Shaking his head, he corrected himself. He never would have made it to Port Royal, he knew that much. "To <em>save</em> me."</p>
<p>"And you kept his secret, even though you were his prisoner?" Ven smiled. "No wonder he likes you."</p>
<p>"More than <em>likes</em>," Xion teased.</p>
<p>"Come on, Xion, don't—"</p>
<p>"No," Riku said, blushing even as he smiled fondly, "she's right. We—" He cleared his throat, unable to make himself say more. "Well, it doesn't matter anymore, does it?"</p>
<p>"You don't know that," Xion said as she sat down beside him. "There's no reason for Yozora to do Sora any harm. He surrendered peacefully."</p>
<p>"But he's a merman," Ven said. "You saw how Yozora reacted—and a lot of the others, too."</p>
<p>"Men of the sea aren't too fond of the merfolk," Riku said, feeling a sense of déjà vu. "Right?"</p>
<p>"Well…yeah," Ven said. "I mean, there are a lot of stories. And a lot of those stories come from those who actually ran into the merfolk."</p>
<p>"Like Yozora," Riku guessed, remembering Sora's final plea to him. "But you're…okay with it?"</p>
<p>"It's like Goofy said," Xion replied with a shrug. "It's still Sora."</p>
<p>"Yeah…" Ven sat down in a corner of the cell, away from all of them. "Besides, he's not my first merman."</p>
<p>Xion tilted her head, curious. "That man of yours? The one who works at Max's?"</p>
<p>Ven nodded. "I found out about Vanitas shortly after we started our relationship."</p>
<p>"Vanitas?" Riku remembered the man who had greeted them, the day they'd met the council in Nassau. He remembered Sora saying they had history too; he wondered if that was why Sora had come to him. Still he couldn't help but ask, "Isn't he—"</p>
<p>"Yeah, well, my way of life involves killing people, so. Can't really judge him." Ven shrugged. "We take our precautions, and I don't let jealousy get in the way."</p>
<p>Next to Riku, Xion chuckled. "You're going to blow poor Riku's mind, Ven. Give it a rest."</p>
<p>Her quip made Riku laugh along, but his mood died down the moment they heard footsteps coming down to the brig. Expecting Yozora, Riku braced himself for…well, he didn't know what exactly, but he didn't expect it to be pleasant.</p>
<p>However, he didn't expect Yozora's hands to be bound behind his back, or that he would be escorted by English soldiers, with more soldiers guiding more pirates into the brig. Yozora was thrown in the cell across from Riku's, then one of the soldiers—an officer, by the look of his uniform—turned toward them.</p>
<p>"Which one of you is the Governor's son?" he asked.</p>
<p>A small part of Riku felt the urge to respond, to just go back home and give up on this whole venture. He quieted that part immediately; English soldiers on board could only mean one thing, and it was that Sora needed help. And he wasn't about to abandon the people with him in this cell, either.</p>
<p>"You have ten seconds to reveal yourself, or I'm killing each of you, starting with the girl." He took out a rifle, and aimed it at Xion.</p>
<p>Riku was on his feet before he could think. "I am!" he said, desperately. "I'm Riku, son of Governor Xehanort. Just don't shoot!" With a disdainful scoff, the soldier motioned at one of his subordinates, who opened the cell door, and dragged Riku out. Riku winced in pain, but insisted, "Just don't hurt them! As the Governor's son, I'm telling you—"</p>
<p>"Come with me, Master Riku." The soldier's tone didn't allow room for protest—and didn't acknowledge Riku's authority over him. Riku glanced at his cell mates, confused, but he had no other choice than to follow him.</p>
<p>At first, Riku thought they were only taking him out of the brig, as the Governor's son—and, as far as they knew, a prisoner of the pirates. But when they entered the captain's cabin, something felt off. Sora was tied to a chair at the dinner table, and when he saw Riku enter, his gaze went from defiant to worried. The other person at the table was Admiral Braig, an officer of the British navy Riku was all too familiar with from his father's dealings with him.</p>
<p>"Master Riku," Braig said in a mocking voice. "Please, have a seat."</p>
<p>The two soldiers who had come into the cabin with Riku shoved him forward, their guns subtly, but clearly aimed at his back. Riku sat, frowning. "Admiral, what's the meaning of this?" he asked, channeling his best voice as a Governor's indignant son. "Why am I being treated as a prisoner?"</p>
<p>Braig ignored his question. "Do you have it?" he asked instead. "The Heart of the Sea?"</p>
<p>Riku blinked in surprise, suddenly keenly aware of the satchel at his side. "Admiral?" he asked.</p>
<p>"I told you," Sora said hurriedly. "The map was a fake. There were only abandoned ruins on that island."</p>
<p>"Really? And as I told you, that would be <em>such</em> a shame. If you had the Heart, the Governor would be merciful enough to grant you a fair trial. But if you don't have it, then—" He shrugged. "I suppose we might as well eliminate this crew of pirates here and there. A battle at sea can be <em>so</em> messy and lethal, after all."</p>
<p>Riku's eyes were on Sora, who subtly shook his head. Riku knew what he meant; if he was right about the Heart's power, then it was out of the question to let his father have it. It would only cement his ambition to become a king right here, in the Caribbean. They hadn't searched Riku yet, meaning there was a chance he could keep it hidden—maybe even bring it to Nassau himself, somehow.</p>
<p>Of course, Braig was clear that he would kill Sora and his entire crew. But there was little chance that he wouldn't kill them even if Riku gave the Heart up now, and he couldn't risk Sora's dream for a selfish attempt to keep Sora alive.</p>
<p>So Riku closed his eyes, and strengthened his resolve.</p>
<p>"You know, that pirate with the odd-colored eyes seemed <em>really</em> convinced that you had it, Master Riku," Braig said. "But oh well. I suppose we'll leave you all aboard this ship and set some explosives. Might as well have the ship cleanly sunk. Less questions asked that way, you know?"</p>
<p>He stood up, and made to leave the cabin. When Riku stood as well, however, both of his guards moved as one, pushing him back down with the barrel of their rifles. Eyes wide, Riku stared at Braig. "Admiral? What're you—"</p>
<p>Braig shrugged. "Nothing personal! Got my orders, boy. So long, then!"</p>
<p>"Wait!" It was Sora who spoke up, his voice broken. "His satchel." He paused, letting Braig understand his meaning, deliberately keeping his eyes from meeting Riku's.</p>
<p>Raising an eyebrow, Braig crossed the cabin until he loomed over Riku, and reached into the satchel—Elizabeth's satchel. From within it, he pulled out the Heart of the Sea, briefly admiring it with a grin. "Thank you for your cooperation."</p>
<p>"Just let him live," Sora said. "Riku hasn't done anything to deserve this."</p>
<p>"Trying to perform one act of nobility after a life of villainy?" In spite of his rebuke, Braig paused. "You know, a public hanging of a pirate captain <em>would</em> make for a better show. And this <em>is</em> a rather nice ship. It would be a shame to sink it." He clapped his hands dramatically. "All right, no explosives. But you're coming on my ship, <em>Captain</em>. I'm not leaving you here to pull some unexpected trick and escape. Some of my soldiers are telling some wild tales about you, you know." He nodded to the two soldiers with him. "Take him aboard the Splendor. I'll see to him momentarily."</p>
<p>The soldiers moved to untie Sora, leaving only his hands bound as they dragged him outside the cabin. Then Riku was alone with Braig, who sneered at him. "He must really care for you, if he'd give up something so precious for you. Imagine that! You'll have been more use for your father as a pirate's prisoner than in your whole life."</p>
<p>"If you think I'm gonna let you—"</p>
<p>"<em>Let me</em> what, boy? Didn't you hear? I have my orders."</p>
<p>Riku's heart sank as he understood Braig's meaning. He had never been meaning to let him live. "Why?"</p>
<p>"Like I just said. Dear old dad's tired of you being dead weight. Captured and killed by pirates is a nice enough way for his son to go, better than…whatever you would have actually done of your miserable life."</p>
<p>"My father asked you to kill me?"</p>
<p>"Well, no. His words were, <em>I expect you to find my son dead</em>, or something like that. Politicians; you know how it goes. Come on, now, get up."</p>
<p>Riku remained on the chair where he sat. "You can just kill me now, Admiral."</p>
<p>"Yeah, but where the fun in that? The drama, the irony? This pirate captain wanted to save your life so bad, it wouldn't do to just shoot you here, would it?" Braig grabbed the front of Riku's shirt, and pulled him to his feet. "Get down that ladder," he said, taking out a pistol and pressing it to Riku's chest.</p>
<p>Even though all Riku wanted to do was stare him down, survival instinct took over, and he moved around the table, towards the ladder. He had no plan, no way out, but the least he could do was buy some time.</p>
<p>"Did you know what my soldiers said?" Braig said as he followed Riku down the ladder. "They said Captain Sora is a merman. If I hadn't seen that water tank of his, I wouldn't have believed it, but—well, that <em>is</em> rather suspicious, isn't it?"</p>
<p>Riku tried to ambush Braig, tackle him before he was fully down the ladder, but Braig simply laughed, gracefully hopping off the ladder, grabbing Riku's arm and pushing him against the ladder.</p>
<p>"At least you tried. Now, where were we—" Keeping his grip firm around Riku's wrist, he directed him towards the aquarium and up the steps. "Gonna make it look perfect. The merman pirate captain, who cruelly kept the Governor's son in a tank, letting him slowly drown to his death. Don't worry; I'll make sure to tell Captain Sora how you died. I'll be sure to enjoy his reaction."</p>
<p>Before Riku could attempt anything else, Braig pushed him forward, and he fell into the aquarium.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The Observatory is one big Assassin's Cree IV: Black Flag reference, because I guess I couldn't resist referencing all the pirate media I know and love :')</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Leviathan has fallen to the colonial army of Port Royal, the pirates are captured, and Riku has been sentenced to a cruel death.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm honestly floored that some of y'all cared enough to figure out where I was taking this cliffhanger. This is legit the best compliment one can get as a writer :')</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Riku hit the aquarium's salty water, he closed his eyes and let himself sink, despair clutching at his heart.</p><p>Braig—and Riku's father through him—had taken the Heart of the Sea. They had taken Sora to his death. They had taken the Leviathan itself as a price, its crew likely to be executed as well. And his father even wanted Riku dead, out of his hands once and for all.</p><p>Riku couldn't say he was truly surprised. The writing had been on the wall, in how his father had never tried to prepare him to succeed him, instead only ever treating him as an ornament; yet it felt different to have it confirmed. Just like how the truth that Riku craved freedom had only become apparent once he was kidnapped, it seemed that <em>this</em> truth could only hurt him now that he heard it said out loud.</p><p>Even if Riku's survival instincts told him to swim to the surface, to try <em>anything</em> to survive and stop this, he already knew from experience that getting out of the tank by himself was impossible. He needed Sora's help, and now, that help was far out of reach. Everything that had happened since the first time he'd fallen into that tank, that night in Sora's bed, the ensuing morning, their night in Nassau, this entire trip and the Observatory, none of it mattered. If anything, it made things <em>worse</em>.</p><p>Swallowed by his own dark thoughts, it took Riku some time to realize he likely should have passed out by now. He should have lost consciousness, and eventually, breathed in the sea water and drowned. Yet that hadn't happened. Or, he realized as he opened his eyes, it had <em>partly</em> happened. He was already breathing in the water, but it felt as good as air to his lungs.</p><p>Blinking in surprise, it took Riku's mind a moment to catch up with what his body already knew.</p><p><em>This isn't given lightly</em>, Sora had said. Riku only now realized how much deeper his words ran than he'd realized at first. The kiss of the merfolk was permanent.</p><p>There was an unspoken promise there that Riku hadn't understood at the time. He'd been too afraid to ask Sora for any sort of commitment, afraid he would be rejected, when Sora had made one all along.</p><p>With every breath he took, Riku felt his despair receding, like a dark tide revealing a pristine stretch of sand below. He turned his gaze outwards, finding the captain's cabin empty. Braig must not have wanted to watch him drown.</p><p>Riku was alone, unsupervised, and—for now, at least—safe. They may be sailing for Port Royal, but there was at least a chance that he could turn the tide for the pirates. All he had to do was figure out a way out of the aquarium, but now that he no longer had to fear drowning, he could devote all his energy to that task.</p><p>Climbing out was still impossible: no matter how hard he pushed, his legs couldn't propel him out of the water nearly as fast as Sora could leap out of the water. Even on his best attempt, he was still an arm's length short of the edge.</p><p>Which left only one possibility—breaking out. The aquarium's sparse decoration didn't offer much in the way of tools, but there were a few heavy rocks at the bottom, amidst the more decorative shells, corals, and sea plants. Riku picked one up, assessed its weight, and got to work.</p><p>It took him some time to figure out the best approach for this task. He couldn't build up enough momentum while underwater to hit the glass with meaningful force, so he had to go back to the surface. This slowed his progress far more than he liked, as his legs could only keep him afloat for so long while he bashed the glass before exhaustion won out, forcing him to sink back down to rest.</p><p>Still, one hit after another, cracks began to form on the glass's surface. Then it was like a chain reaction: the cracks spread, bringing more and more of the glass with them, until, finally, a break formed. It wasn't much, a small hole barely large enough for Riku's arm, let alone his entire body, but it urged Riku to keep going. Striking at the edge of the hole he'd created, it was easy to widen it, bit by bit, until finally, the opening was large enough for him.</p><p>Letting out an exhausted, but triumphant whoop, Riku dropped his rock and reached out—and quickly retreated his arm as he almost cut himself on the glass's irregular edges. If he attempted to haul himself out this way, he'd be a bloody mess by the time he was out, and not in any shape to help anyone.</p><p>Sighing, he went back down to pick his rock back up and worked to widen the hole again. There was no way he'd manage to reach the bottom of the aquarium before collapsing from exhaustion, but he worked to increase its height anyway. <em>Just a little more</em>.</p><p>He picked up another rock at the bottom of the aquarium, flatter than the one he'd used, and placed it on the lower edge of the hole he'd made. Before he could lift himself onto it and slide out of the aquarium, the rock fell outside without him; his chest hit the edge of the hole as he fell into the water with a yelp, cutting a nasty line across his skin through his shirt. Glancing back down, he assessed the rocks he had left. Nothing to do but try again.</p><p>On his third attempt, finally, he managed to keep his rock balanced long enough for him to climb onto it, then tip over the edge and out of the aquarium. He immediately thrusted his hands forward to catch himself on the floor before he hid it head first, but that didn't stop him from tumbling forward, out of control. He grunted in pain when his back hit one of the fallen rocks, then rolled onto the wood floor, wincing as his entire body ached.</p><p>He wanted nothing more than to stay there and catch his breath, but he knew that if he allowed himself to stop now, he might pass out. The Observatory was off the coast of Jamaica; he only had a few hours before they sailed around the island and reached Port Royal, and no way to tell how much of that time he'd already used up getting out of the aquarium.</p><p>So he pushed himself off the floor, overcoming his own reluctance and the searing pain in various parts of his body. He had two cuts on his chest from his failed attempts to get out, and several more across his sides and palms that he hadn't even noticed—likely from scratching the edges of the hole on his way out. There were bruises on his forearm, and, judging by the way it felt, his back too. He was exhausted, and completely soaked, as was most of the cabin floor here from all the water that had spilled out of the tank.</p><p>But he was <em>alive</em>. He could make a difference. That was all that mattered for now.</p><p>Riku made his way to the chest where Sora had offered him to store his spare clothes, and changed out of his waterlogged ones. As he looked around the cabin, he saw Sora's Keyblade was in its holster, hanging off a peg in the wall—likely brought here by Yozora before the ship had fallen to the colonial soldiers. He slung the holster's strap across his shoulder, securing the Keyblade at his back. Riku had no idea how the weapon's magic worked, but even without it, it <em>was</em> a weapon. It wasn't much, given his own meager training, but it was better than nothing.</p><p>Finally, Riku walked back to the ladder, and started the climb back up. His legs felt wobbly with exhaustion, his arms screamed in pain every time he reached for the next rung, but he pushed onwards until he was at the top.</p><p>The cabin's upper platform was mercifully empty as well, giving him time to brace himself for what came next. He could wait until they reached Port Royal and try to sneak out then, but that would leave him all alone in his father's city; he didn't see himself winning out against the city's entire garrison. Which meant he had to act before that.</p><p>A plan formed in his mind, and before he could second-guess himself, he stepped outside of the cabin with quiet determination. All he could hope was that his gamble would pay off.</p><p>He made three steps onto the deck before one of the soldier stopped him, two men he didn't recognize. The ones who had heard Braig tell Riku about his <em>orders</em> had carried Sora to Braig's ship, and Riku could only hope that they'd stayed there.</p><p>"Officer!" Riku greeted him, hoping to project a semblance of detached authority in his voice. "I was wondering if my dinner was ready yet."</p><p>The man blinked, visibly confused. Out the corner of his eye, Riku spotted a second soldier, putting his hand to the handle of his sword. "Who even <em>are</em> you?"</p><p>Riku didn't need to fake his angry scowl at the man. "I'm Governor Xehanort's son!" he said, indignant. "The man you all came here to rescue from these pirates?" The soldiers traded glances, confused. "Really? Am I supposed to think Admiral Braig didn't tell you about me?" He scoffed. "What's your name, officer? I want to be able to tell my father what incompetent man is serving in His Majesty's navy."</p><p>"I recognize him," a voice came from Riku's left, and a soldier rushed out to talk in the officer's ears. Riku couldn't hear what he said, but he saw the shock and embarrassment in the officer's eyes.</p><p>"My apologies, Sir," he said, making a fumbling attempt at a respectful bow. "I'm sure it's only a miscommunication. I'll send some men down to the mess hall to fetch you dinner at once."</p><p>"No need," Riku said, dryly. "I can take care of myself. Just make sure to stay out of my way until we reach port, and I'll forget this incident happened. And spread the word to your men, too. I've spent enough time with men of lower standing."</p><p>His gamble paid off as the officer made another obsequious bow. "Of course, Sir. I'll send word at once to clear the mess hall for you."</p><p>"Most obliged," Riku said. He moved immediately, heading towards the opening that led belowdecks, unable to repress a smug grin as he saw the officer jump, startled.</p>
<hr/><p>Riku made a show of entering the mess hall, though the real reason he took his time doing so was waiting to get a better look at the soldiers on board of the Leviathan. Braig must have been forced to leave a relatively small crew behind, barely enough soldiers to man the ship, because there weren't many people belowdecks at all, and they gave Riku a wide berth as word spread of Riku's supposed ill temper.</p><p>In spite of that, Riku forced himself to stay in the mess hall for longer than he would have liked, to sell the illusion—and perhaps, too, to give himself time to calm his nerves. He could hardly believe that his plan had worked so far at all, let alone that he'd managed to be alone belowdecks without so much as a struggle.</p><p>When he thought he'd spent enough time to have believably eaten, Riku exited the mess hall, forcing himself to walk out like he owned the place, even though his every instinct told him to peer carefully first. But there was no one outside the mess hall; clearly, the soldiers had taken to heart that they should give him a wide berth. Hopefully, that fear lasted for just a few more minutes. That was all he needed.</p><p>Instead of returning to the captain's cabin, Riku walked down, towards the brig. He'd never gone there willingly—or at all, before today, now that he thought about it. There had never been a reason for him to, when Sora had treated him like a guest from the start. So as he went down, the only memory that came to his mind was of Yozora's betrayal, and the men who had turned against Sora dragging Riku down here.</p><p>A shiver ran down his spine as he reached the bottom of the stairs and the brig, but he suppressed it as he stepped into the light. There was only one soldier here, looking bored until he noticed Riku's entrance. "You're—" He cleared his throat. "Master Riku?" Riku thought he recognized him; he was the soldier who had gotten Riku out of the cell before, at Braig's orders. Behind him, Riku saw several pirates stir at the sound of his name—Donald and Goofy pressed their faces against the bars of their cell, as did Yozora.</p><p>"Is there a problem, soldier?"</p><p>"I—I don't know if you're supposed to be here, Sir."</p><p>Riku frowned, unsure of himself, but he stepped forward with all the assurance he could muster. "I beg your pardon?"</p><p>"This is the brig, Sir—I don't think you have any reason to be here. I heard you asked to be left alone, but you won't find that here. Perhaps I can show you back above deck?"</p><p>His question led Riku to make a snap decision and alter his initial plan. He let his features soften with a faint smile. "It's embarrassing, but you're right. I'm not too used to being on a ship, you see. If you'd be so kind?" He stepped aside, hoping his intent was clear.</p><p>The soldier snapped to his feet, and walked by Riku. "Right this way, Sir."</p><p>Before he could take his first step up the stairs, Riku's hand was on the Keyblade's handle, and he struck the man in the back of the head with all his might. The soldier gasped softly, and fell limply forward. Riku reflexively caught him, not wanting him to hit his head—and then felt silly for it. Considering what he was about to do, he'd soon have blood on his hand, no matter if he personally killed anyone.</p><p>The cell keys hung on a ring at the soldier's belt. Touching his unconscious form sent a surge of dread across Riku's skin, but he took the keyring anyway, then turned towards the cells, holstering the Keyblade on his back.</p><p>He first went to Donald and Goofy, fumbling with the keys in his hands. "How does this—"</p><p>"Let me do it," Goofy offered, and Riku gratefully handed him the keys through the bars.</p><p>"Are you guys okay?" Riku asked in a whisper as Goofy worked to unlock his cell from the inside.</p><p>"Yeah," Xion said. "But—what's going on?"</p><p>"Braig tried to kill me, but it didn't stick," Riku said, hoping they wouldn't press him on it.</p><p>"What's the big idea?" Donald asked. "Take back the ship?"</p><p>"Hopefully. And speaking of—" Riku turned to the cell behind him, and immediately met Yozora's eyes. Sora's first mate stood against the bars, considering Riku with a newfound fascination.</p><p>"You bluffed your way here," he simply said. "Almost like a pirate."</p><p>It sounded like a compliment, and Riku couldn't help but blush from it, but he kept his gaze firm. Just as Goofy opened his cell gate, and moved towards the other, Riku held out his hand. "Wait," he said, and Goofy froze, looking at him curiously. Riku, however, kept his attention on Yozora. "They took Sora prisoner on their ship," he said. "They'll have him tried and executed in Port Royal. And they have the Heart of the Sea."</p><p>Yozora raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like you need a crew."</p><p>"If I let you out, how do I know you're not going to sail back to Nassau the moment we take back the Leviathan?"</p><p>For a moment, Yozora was silent. "I could tell you the Heart alone is a good reason to go to Port Royal," he finally said. "But I doubt either of us would like that answer."</p><p>Ven came up to stand by Riku's side. "What, are you feeling remorse?"</p><p>"I don't regret what I did this afternoon," Yozora retorted, defiant. "But I don't want to see a pirate executed by the Governor of Port Royal. Even a—" His voice softened to a whisper. "Even a merman." He looked at Riku again. "So I give you my word that we'll go and rescue Captain Sora, and take back the Heart. Good enough for you?"</p><p>Riku wanted to bargain for more—the Leviathan, some kind of assurance that Sora would remain a captain—but there was no time for that. He'd gotten what he wanted; all he could do now was hope Yozora's word had any worth.</p>
<hr/><p>After a trip to the ship's storeroom to arm themselves, the pirates split into two groups, led by Goofy and Yozora. Riku insisted on going with Yozora, hoping to keep an eye on him, even if he didn't know what he could do if Yozora tried to renege on his word.</p><p>Considering the size of the skeleton crew of soldiers left to man the Leviathan, there was barely any struggle at all. The two groups made coordinated moves throughout the ship, Goofy's group taking off soldiers one by one belowdeck while Yozora's went above deck to fight off the main force. Even while split up, they still outnumbered the soldiers easily, had the brief advantage of surprise, and knew the ship better than the soldiers.</p><p>Within just a handful of minutes, the soldiers were subdued, some dead, other captured and thrown in the brig where the pirates themselves had just been moments earlier.</p><p>The Leviathan had been following Braig's ship, the Splendor, this whole time. They were far enough away that nobody on that ship was likely to have noticed the fighting, but if anyone on the Splendor paid close enough attention—say, using a spyglass—they would soon find out about what had just happened.</p><p>Fighting the galleon head-on, even with surprise on their side, would be suicide—and even if they won, there was the risk that Sora would get killed in the battle. Instead, Yozora had some of the pirates take the English soldiers' uniforms and wear them, while the rest of the crew hid belowdeck. Riku went to steer the ship, Donald by his side. After a moment of taking measurements, Donald informed him that they were about an hour away from Port Royal. An hour to keep up the pretense—and an hour to get ready for the next part of the plan.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>With the Leviathan back under the pirates' control, it is time to rescue Sora and recover the Heart of the Sea from the Governor of Port Royal himself.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A heavy fog loomed over the bay when they approached Port Royal at night, just as it had the day Riku had left. He wondered if it was Sora's doing or a genuine stroke of good luck. Whichever it was, Yozora agreed with Riku that it gave them an opportunity they couldn't squander.</p>
<p>It would be impossible for the Leviathan's crew to feign being British soldiers for very long—if at all—once they were in Port Royal. Whoever stayed on board would have to be a distraction and secure their way out of the harborwhile the rest of the crew retrieved Sora; a risky endeavor for sure.</p>
<p>The fog at least helped them with one part of the plan: before the Leviathan had made port at all, Riku left on a rowboat, among a group of ten pirates. Donald and Goofy were among them, as well as Xion. Riku had wanted to take Ven with him too, but Yozora had insisted he stay on the Leviathan, and offered to take his place instead.</p>
<p>"You don't trust me," he said, and Riku didn't have the diplomatic skills to argue otherwise. "Ven can take care of the ship in my place, and I'll come with you. That way, you'll know I won't leave without you or Sora. You can think of it as leverage."</p>
<p>Riku couldn't help but chuckle at that. "You know, Sora also volunteered to give me leverage when he wanted me to agree to a deal."</p>
<p>A weak smile reached Yozora's lips. "I guess there are worse examples to follow," he simply replied.</p>
<p>The city of Port Royal had its attention on the Splendor's return and the captured ship in its tow; nobody noticed their small rowboat as it reached the beach on the opposite end of the bay. Still, they wouldn't be able to go around unnoticed for very long, and Riku couldn't use the same bluff he had with the soldiers on the Leviathan. Even in the best case scenario, he'd be brought to his father, who already wanted him dead. Their first priority, then, was to find a place to hide, and Riku knew just the place.</p>
<p>Weaving through the streets of the lower city, Riku led the group to an isolated house, standing hunched at the dead end of a back alley. and surrounded on all sides by taller buildings. In spite of the gloomy location and dingy exterior, a potted plant hung by the door—always a different one every time Riku visited. Tonight, it was a bright, orange and pink flower that Riku didn't recognize.</p>
<p>He banged on the door, desperate and tense, and relief flooded him when it opened. "Hi, Kairi," he greeted.</p>
<p>His governess's granddaughter stood in the entryway, staring at him in open shock, even more so when she looked at the group of armed men and women who were following him. "Riku?" she finally said. "Is that you? They said—"</p>
<p>"It's complicated, but we need a place to stay. Can we come in?"</p>
<p>She nodded, motioning them inside. "Grandma's at the mansion," she said before Riku could ask. "Riku, what's going on?"</p>
<p>As the rest of the pirates settled at the back of the small house, Riku tried to tell her everything he could in as short a time as he could. The raid, Sora taking him as a prisoner then a guest, Sora being a merman, Sora showing him a new life that was possible for him. Retrieving the Heart of the Sea from the Observatory. Braig capturing the Leviathan, capturing Sora, and trying to kill Riku.</p>
<p>Kairi didn't question any of it, only nodded at the end. "So you finally believe, huh?" she said with a mischievous smirk. "We've only been friends forever, but all it takes is one handsome pirate to wash away that skepticism of yours."</p>
<p>Riku frowned. "I didn't say he was <em>handsome</em>." He hadn't gone into any details regarding their relationship at all, really.</p>
<p>"I surmised from the look on your face when you talk about him," she retorted, her knowing grin enough to make Riku blush. "I'm glad the charm worked," she added, more gently.</p>
<p>Riku's fingers absently went to the pendant, still around his neck. "Yeah," he said. Suddenly he wondered if his plan to take the Leviathan back had worked out as well as it did thanks to its magic, though he didn't say that out loud. "So we need to figure out where they took him, and fast. The longer we stay in Port Royal, the more likely it is that our ruse is discovered."</p>
<p>"Well, good thing you have two women on the inside, then," Kairi said with a proud smirk. "Grandma might know something."</p>
<p>"Can you go get her? The longer we wait—"</p>
<p>"I can do you one better," Kairi said. "I can ask her right now."</p>
<p>"You can—what?" Riku asked, but Kairi had already lowered her head, her hands linked together under her chin as if in prayer.</p>
<p>Riku stared at her, dumbfounded. From the back of the house, Xion said, "She really is a witch, huh? Never thought I'd get to meet one!"</p>
<p>"Barely," Kairi replied as she opened her eyes. "I haven't had much practice." She moved to the back of the house to stand amidst the pirates. "All right, listen up! Your Captain is being kept at the Governor's mansion."</p>
<p>"Not the fort?" Yozora asked with a suspicious frown.</p>
<p>"Apparently not."</p>
<p>"What about the Heart of the Sea?"</p>
<p>Kairi shook her head, but Riku suggested, "In all likelihood, my father will have put it in his safe, at the mansion. I know where it is. I can get us to it while we're there."</p>
<p>"Also," Kairi added, "the Governor himself isn't there, so there won't be as much security, but it doesn't mean it'll be easy." She turned back to look at Riku. "Which is why I'm coming with you," she said, determined.</p>
<p>"Kairi—"</p>
<p>"Don't even think about it. I can get you in through the staff entrance, and I <em>am</em> a witch. Even if I can only rely on raw talent, I can still help."</p>
<p>"You know," Donald chimed in, "if you wanted to learn more about magic, Captain Turner has a collection of documents that could help you, back in Nassau."</p>
<p>Riku turned to him, lips agape in disbelief. "Is it really the time to <em>recruit</em> her?"</p>
<p>"<em>You</em> got her involved," Donald retorted with a shrug.</p>
<p>With a scoff, Riku turned back to Kairi. "Speaking of magic, did you always know how to do that? Talk to people in your mind?" She nodded. "And you never thought to show me because—"</p>
<p>"Frankly, Riku, I didn't think you'd want me in your head." With a sly look, she added, "You were always keeping so many things even from yourself." Behind her, Riku saw Xion and Donald looking like they were trying hard not to laugh at him. "So, can I come along?"</p>
<p>"I can't stop you," Riku conceded as he tried to hide his blush. "And besides, this <em>is</em> our best way in. I just hope you know what you're doing."</p>
<hr/>
<p>Riku had never even <em>seen</em> the staff entrance of his old home before, he realized as they walked the streets of Port Royal. It had never occurred to him to think about it, even when the only people in the world who still cared about him were his governess and a maid at the mansion. For the first time, Riku felt not just happy at the changes Sora had brought within him, but a little ashamed of who he once was.</p>
<p>A good thing, then, that at the end of this night, he would be leaving that person behind for good. If he never set foot in Port Royal again after tonight, it would still be too soon.</p>
<p>The streets were surprisingly animated for the time of night; sure, the city had its nocturnal life, but Riku rarely saw the streets themselves be crowded, especially with that fog. According to Kairi, Riku's father was planning to make Sora's execution into a spectacle, and that sounded like an understatement: it was as if the entire city was celebrating a holiday. For the execution of a pirate captain, or the Heart of the Sea? How long had Xehanort had something like this prepared, Riku wondered?</p>
<p>Still, the crowd was a blessing for them, making it far easier to go unnoticed. Soon, the Governor's mansion was in sight, and nobody had stopped them in their path.</p>
<p>Riku dared to feel a twinge of hope then. If Kairi was telling the truth, and Nova was right, they could break Sora out, get the Heart, and leave Port Royal.</p>
<p>It felt strange to ignore the stairs leading up to the mansion's main entrance and follow Kairi to the back of the building, where a tiny door led directly into the half-basement kitchen. But now that he was actually here, it felt freeing, too; like it really was a different man coming here than the Riku he had once been.</p>
<p>Still, there were some things that hadn't changed about him, like the warmth in his heart at the sound of a familiar, comforting voice. "Master Riku!" Kairi's grandmother was awaiting them in the dark kitchen, and when she saw him, she crossed the room and threw her arms around Riku, taking him by surprise. She squeezed him surprisingly hard, considering her size and age.</p>
<p>"Just Riku is fine now, Nova," Riku said. "I'm not going to be anyone's master anymore." Even if it weren't for his father's violent rejection of him, he wouldn't want to be that anymore—to anyone. "I need your help."</p>
<p>Nova nodded. "Kairi told me all about it. You're trying to rescue a man. A pirate. A merman." There was a smug smile on her lips as she said the words deliberately, and Riku remembered her words, that fateful day when Sora had raided the city.</p>
<p>"Fog in the bay, a telltale sign of pirates," Riku recited.</p>
<p>"And salt and ozone in the air."</p>
<p>"But there's no storm tonight," Riku pointed out.</p>
<p>"The merman didn't come here of his own volition, did he?"</p>
<p>Riku snorted, unsure if he believed in her omens now, or if it was just a clever recovery on her part. "I guess not. Which is why we need to take him back."</p>
<p>"He's being held on the second floor, in your bedroom. Your father left guards there. And, Ma—Riku…are you certain about this? There will be no going back if you go through that door."</p>
<p>The answer came to him easily. "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."</p>
<p>"All right," she said, a calm smile on her lips. "Then I'll do everything I can to help."</p>
<p>Riku shook his head. "You've done plenty, Nova. I can't put you in danger any further. But thank you. You too, Kairi," he said, turning to her. "They can't know you helped us." Kairi shook her head, looking dissatisfied, but she didn't argue with him. He turned to the rest of the pirates. "Come on. I'll show you the way."</p>
<p>He unholstered the Keyblade as he walked up the stairs to the mansion's ground floor. It felt hefty in his hands, but it was also surprisingly easy to hold and maneuver. Riku didn't know how well he could use it, but it still felt reassuring to have a weapon on him.</p>
<p>The first guard they came across fell before Riku could even think to strike at him, a bolt from Yozora's crossbow lodged in his throat. It allowed them to make it into the dining hall before they were inevitably found out by more guards.</p>
<p>Even though they felled the two guards in this room quickly, their shouts had raised the alarm. As they crossed into the foyer, guards came from four different directions at once: from the left and the right ends of the hall on the ground floor, and down the two flights of stairs leading to the upper floors, one on each side.</p>
<p>"Fall back!" Yozora called, and Riku wasn't about to argue. But his quick head count told him the guards had to outnumber them at least two to one.</p>
<p>Riku could guess Yozora's intent: to force the guards into a chokepoint at the foyer's door, negating their numbers' advantage. But there were other entrances to the dining hall too; it wouldn't be long before they were surrounded. As the pirates stood ready to fight, Riku hurried across the room and barricaded the east door by pushing the table against it.</p>
<p>He was only halfway to the west door when it burst open, and Riku skidded to a stop, swinging the Keyblade. It struck true, taking out a guard with a single hit; however, before Riku could recover and strike again, the barrel of a rifle was shoved under his neck.</p>
<p>Riku braced himself for the shot, but instead, the air rippled around him with an unseen force coming from behind. The guard staggered backwards, and Riku took the chance to hit his rifle with the Keyblade, knocking it out of the guard's hands. Riku struck again, but the Keyblade hit another guard's sword, who pushed Riku back.</p>
<p>The distance allowed Riku to consider his situation: there were four guards in front of him, and by the sound on his side, the pirates were busy enough dealing with the ones coming from the foyer. Which meant…</p>
<p>"We'll hold the line," a voice came from behind Riku. "Together." Kairi stepped beside him, a familiar weapon in her hand—a practice sword that Riku had used himself, years ago.</p>
<p>Before Riku could point out that it wasn't real, the guards charged the two of them. Riku blocked a first sword strike, then a second, but a third guard slipped past his guard and drove the tip of his weapon into his left arm. With his wounds from his encounter with the Heartless barely healed, his arm was still sensitive, and he cried out in pain, collapsing to his knees.</p>
<p>That was when Kairi moved, holding her practice sword loosely, her other hand extended. Once more, the air rippled around her, pushing the soldiers back.</p>
<p>Riku forced himself to his feet and struck again, mowing down two more guards before they could recover. A third guard intercepted his next blow, while the fourth was crawling away at the edge of Riku's vision, scrambling towards the rifle he had dropped. Before he could reach it, however, Kairi got to it; she took the weapon in her hands, and fired it at the guard, who dropped on the spot.</p>
<p>"How do I reload it?" she shouted, shock seeping into her voice.</p>
<p>"How would<em> I</em> know?" Riku retorted, trading blows with the last guard. The man was clearly more experienced than he was, forcing Riku to stay on the defensive and unable to find an opening.</p>
<p>He didn't need to, however. With a groan of frustration, Kairi flicked the rifle in her hands, holding it by the barrel, and swung it at the guard's head, knocking him out. Panting, Kairi glanced up at Riku with a ferocious smirk. "Guess that works too."</p>
<p>Riku barely allowed himself to return her smile before he turned towards the door. "We need to take care of this," he said, closing it.</p>
<p>"I've got it," Kairi said. She picked the practice sword back up, then extended her free hand. A heavy chest slid on the ground under her command, until it was against the door, blocking it completely.</p>
<p>"Thanks. For that and for the save, too." The two of them turned towards the foyer, where the pirates were engaged in a chaotic melee. "Anything you can do about that?" he asked Kairi.</p>
<p>"Not without hurting some of your new friends."</p>
<p>Sighing, Riku gripped the Keyblade tighter. "We do it the old-fashioned way, then."</p>
<p>He rushed into the melee, taking out a guard from the back before he could circle around Xion. The two of them then struck together at her other opponent, then split up to help the rest of them. Kairi remained close to Riku, slipping in and out of the fight, destabilizing guards when she had the opportunity and preventing openings to Riku.</p>
<p>Time felt strangely suspended, until suddenly, there were no more guards standing, and the exhaustion caught up with Riku. He holstered the Keyblade, afraid he would drop it out of exhaustion, and leaned against a wall, catching his breath in desperate gulps. There was blood on his clothes, on his hands, the feeling of it making it that much harder to breathe.</p>
<p>As he looked around the dining hall, he saw that only eight pirates still stood. He didn't know the name of the man and the woman who had fallen, though he'd seen both of them on the Leviathan multiple times. Yozora caught his gaze, and slowly shook his head, grim and cold.</p>
<p>"We keep going," he said. Glancing at Kairi, he added, "Looks like you're joining the fight after all." Kairi looked as shell-shocked as Riku felt, but she nodded. "Which way?"</p>
<p>"I can still lead the way," Riku said, even though his legs felt unsteady when he pushed himself off the wall and tried to step around the fallen bodies.</p>
<p>"Are there still more guards inside the mansion?" Xion asked. She was nursing a nasty cut on her side, and leaning against Kairi for balance.</p>
<p>"I think that was all of them," Kairi replied. "But the staff must have evacuated by now, and they'll have gone to get help."</p>
<p>Riku should have thought of that too—he knew protocol as well as she did. "Yeah. Better hurry."</p>
<p>He went back into the foyer, up the east staircase and down the hall. There was one guard there, standing by the door, but he looked terrified even before he noticed the group of pirates coming towards him.</p>
<p>Yozora raised his crossbow, but Riku held up his hand to stop him, and stepped forward, pushing the tip of the Keyblade under the guard's chin. He was young—maybe Riku's age—and didn't even attempt to take his weapon. "This is my bedroom," Riku said softly. "Why don't you let us in?"</p>
<p>The boy nodded frantically, and fumbled for keys at his belt. Just when he opened the door, Riku hit the back of his head with the flat of the Keyblade, and he collapsed on the floor. Riku was too consumed by the need to get inside to mind stepping over his unconscious form.</p>
<p>No lights were lit inside the bedroom, but Riku knew it well enough to spot the shape of his bed in the dark—and the unmoving silhouette of Sora in it. Riku was on him in an instant. "Sora!" His skin was hot and dry, in a way that was all too familiar to Riku, but when he put his fingers to Sora's throat, he could still feel a steady pulse.</p>
<p>After a second, Sora stirred. "R-Riku?" he asked weakly, blinking rapidly. "Is that you?"</p>
<p>"Yeah," Riku said, his voice breaking. "I've come to save you. We took the Leviathan back."</p>
<p>He heard the soft exhale of air when Sora smiled more than he saw it. "Can you cut those ropes?" He moved his arms weakly, enough for Riku to spot the outline of bonds tying him to the bedposts in the dark.</p>
<p>Hurriedly, Riku took the Keyblade in hand again and cut those ropes. It was awkward work, the weapon not meant for such a minute task, but it cut through the strong ropes as if they were as thin as spider silk. Once he was done, he holstered it again, and pulled Sora into his arms. Not really to help him get up so much as out of his own need to just <em>hold</em> him, even for just a moment.</p>
<p>Sora nuzzled his face into Riku's neck and breathed in deep. "I knew it. The sheets smell like you."</p>
<p>Riku let out a noise that was halfway between a laugh and a sob. "This was my bedroom."</p>
<p>"Oh?" A faint chuckle. "At least I got to be in here once, then."</p>
<p>Behind him, Riku heard Yozora make a soft, impatient noise. And while it annoyed him, Riku knew he was right. "We have to go," he told Sora as he pulled away. "Can you walk?"</p>
<p>"I—think so."</p>
<p>In spite of Sora's answer, Riku wrapped an arm under his shoulders to help him stand. Even when Sora looked steady, Riku didn't let go of him completely—he didn't think he could make himself. "It hasn't been that long since you were in the ocean," he said, half-questioningly. Since Sora had dived into the cove near the Observatory, it had been less than ten hours, yet he looked almost as weak as the time Riku had to carry him into the aquarium.</p>
<p>"Used up a lot of strength fighting," Sora said. "And Braig tried to dry me out."</p>
<p>He didn't elaborate, but just from his tone, Riku winced. "Come on," he said. "We're leaving."</p>
<p>In front of him, Yozora didn't budge. "The Heart," he reminded Riku, unyielding.</p>
<p>The sight of Sora had wiped everything else from Riku's mind, and it took him a moment to remember they had come for two things. "Right," he said. "This way."</p>
<p>He guided them across the mansion's second floor, only letting go of Sora when Donald and Goofy gently pried him from his grip. Even then, he felt disoriented, his gaze shifting back to Sora without thinking.</p>
<p>He was so distracted almost missed the door to his father's office, earning himself another annoyed sigh from Yozora. Once they were inside, he walked around the desk, and pulled the painting his father kept hung on the wall. Behind was his safe, a heavy, reinforced chest embedded into the wall with solid steel attachments, where Xehanort kept his most precious belonging.</p>
<p>"The key should be—"</p>
<p>"Don't bother," Sora said, limping towards him. He reached up to Riku's back, grabbed the Keyblade's handle, and pulled the weapon free from its holster.</p>
<p>"I don't think you can break it," Riku pointed out. Although he <em>had</em> seen what kind of destruction the Keyblade could cause. But was Sora strong enough to wield it with that much force?</p>
<p>But Sora didn't swing the weapon; instead, he tapped it gently against the chest. And, just like that, it opened.</p>
<p>Riku was so baffled by the Keyblade's magic, it took him a amoment to realize the chest was empty. "But I—"</p>
<p>"Well," Yozora said. "We're fucked."</p>
<p>"It should have been here," Riku said in disbelief. "He wouldn't have trusted it to any other place. To anyone else."</p>
<p>"Are you sure?" Xion asked softly. "He trusted Braig to bring it back to him, didn't he?"</p>
<p>"I'm sure. If it's not here, then—" He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "We gotta get back downstairs," he said.</p>
<p>Before anyone could ask what he meant, he gently took the Keyblade from Sora's hands and holstered it again, then helped him out of the office and down the stairs.</p>
<p>"Riku!" Yozora called behind him. "What're you—"</p>
<p>Riku didn't listen; he kept going, ignoring the dead bodies in the dining hall and pushing forward until they were back down to the kitchen. Nova was still there, looking concerned when she saw Riku appear, covered in blood and half-carrying an ever-weaker Sora. "Are you—" she said softly. "And the others? Kairi?"</p>
<p>Kairi came down just then. "I'm okay. Though the pirates <em>are</em> worried."</p>
<p>Riku ignored her, and the voices of the pirates that joined her as they came down one by one. "Nova," he said, "you said that Father left. Do you know where?"</p>
<p>"Down to the harbor," she replied, frowning. "The Lord Governor said something about a—what's the word he used?—a <em>demonstration</em> of some kind."</p>
<p>"A demonstration?" Kairi asked, frowning.</p>
<p>Riku could guess what it meant, and the thought filled his veins with ice. "The Heart of the Sea. It has to be."</p>
<p>"We can't leave without it," Yozora said. He mustn't have understood just how accurate the statement was.</p>
<p>"He's going to <em>use</em> it," Riku said. "He's going to sink the Leviathan."</p>
<p>"What?" Donald asked.</p>
<p>"Think about it. Even if that's not the demonstration he originally planned, the moment our crew is found out, it'll be the perfect opportunity. Test out what the Heart is capable of, and take us out for good."</p>
<p>"So?" Yozora said. "Like I said, we needed to take it back anyway. What difference does this make?"</p>
<p>"It means we have to warn the ship," Sora said, forcefully, yet still so quiet as to make Riku worry he'd collapse any moment. "Let them know what they're risking."</p>
<p>"Exactly." Which meant splitting up even further—as if they weren't too small a group to begin with. "Sora, you need to go back to the ship too. And—to the water."</p>
<p>"If I may—" Nova said. "If all you need is to take this one to the water and carry a message to your ship, then perhaps it is best if <em>I</em> do it."</p>
<p>Riku turned to her, surprised. Next to him, Kairi softly started, "Grandma—"</p>
<p>Nova interrupted her, looking at the two of them sternly. "It's clear that after tonight, neither my granddaughter nor I can stay here. Even if we're not found out, do you really think I could keep working for a man who tried to have you killed? So allow me to do this favor for you. I'm still strong enough to help this young man to the harbor and row a boat. And you can't spare anyone else."</p>
<p>Just as Riku and Kairi hesitated, Yozora stepped up beside them. "How do we know we can trust you?"</p>
<p>"From what I understand," Sora said weakly, "I'll be the one who has to trust her. And last I checked, you're no authority on who I can <em>trust</em>, Yozora."</p>
<p>Yozora turned to him, scowling. "Are we doing this now?"</p>
<p>"No, we're not. I trust Riku, and he trusted these two women with his life and your whole plan." His gaze shifted, from Nova to Kairi. "So I trust them too."</p>
<p>Around them, Riku saw the rest of the pirates nod their approval. From Donald, Goofy and Xion he'd expected as much; but he was glad to see the other three members of their group stand by Sora too.</p>
<p>Defeated, Yozora let out a sigh. "All right," he said, caustic. "The two of you go back to warn the ship, and the rest of us only have to rob the Governor of Port Royal blind." He smirked. "What could go wrong?"</p>
<hr/>
<p>The Splendor loomed large over the bay not far off the shore from the brand new—and newly ruined—shipyard. Restoration was already ongoing on the building, but even in the dark of night, Riku could see the holes in the roof and charred marks on the walls. The hole through which he had entered the shipyard was also still present, although it had been summarily patched over with a tarp. Still, all it took was a strike of Yozora's sword to bring it down.</p>
<p>Riku smelled smoke when he stepped inside, although he didn't know if the scent had actually lingered in the air for so long or if it was just his memory playing tricks on him. Either way, he pushed past the memories, past the fallen beam that still rested on the ground where Sora had cut it down with the Keyblade, and towards the sea.</p>
<p>"This is crazy," he muttered when he reached the end of the walkway. The drop into the ocean was as high as it had been back then, when he was running away from pirates—from Sora. Now he was back, with pirates at his side, readying himself to take that jump after all.</p>
<p>"She's <em>your</em> witch," Yozora said next to Riku. "You don't trust her?"</p>
<p>Kairi stepped up to Riku's other side. "He didn't even believe that I was one."</p>
<p>"You said yourself you never got any formal training," Riku said. "Are you sure you can do this?"</p>
<p>"Riku," Kairi said with a smile. "I'm a witch of the Caribbean. The sea is the source of our power. This is gonna be easy."</p>
<p>"According to legends." Nova's legends, which apparently held more truth than Riku had realized, but still legends. "What if we—"</p>
<p>"I've also done this before, you know." She cast him a sidelong glance and smirked, then crouched by the edge. "I wouldn't have suggested it otherwise."</p>
<p>Their plan had been conceived in a rush as they walked back down to the harbor, each pirate contributing ideas in a chaotic blur of a conversation. At least Riku was able to catch the names of the rest of his companions—two men called Terra and Roxas, and a woman named Aqua. But he was otherwise overwhelmed by much of the debate, his thoughts constantly drifting to worrying about Sora.</p>
<p>He should have gone with him. What if Nova couldn't carry him all the way to the sea? Worse, what if he was caught once again? She would be defenseless to protect them. If they got the Heart back, but lost Sora again—</p>
<p>"Hey, Riku," Kairi said, looking up to him. "He's gonna be okay."</p>
<p>"You can't know—wait." Before Riku could finish his thoughts, he caught a glimpse of a deep, royal blue light across the bay. Even though it was too far away for him to see anything in the water or on the surface, that color was unmistakable. "That's him," he said, feeling the knots in his stomach loosen as the tension drained out of him. Sora had at least made it back to the water. Riku could only hope he would reach the Leviathan in time.</p>
<p>Kairi nodded confidently, and turned her attention to the water below them, her hands extended. For a moment, nothing happened, and Riku thought they would have to switch to a back-up plan.</p>
<p>Then the water rose. At first, it looked like an unusually high wave crashing against the shore. Then the water level remained unnaturally high, the motion of the waves softening until a pillar of water stood before them, so perfectly still as to look practically solid.</p>
<p>With a satisfied sound, Kairi stepped forward. Her feet sunk into the water, but before Riku could move to catch her and pull her out, she took another step, the water reaching no higher than her ankles.</p>
<p>"Nice work, Kairi!" Xion said, stepping out from behind Riku as he stared, motionless. She joined Kairi on the water platform, taking a moment to find her balance, and the two exchanged a smile.</p>
<p>One by one, the rest of them followed. The feeling of walking on water was an odd one; it wasn't that Riku had a solid footing beneath him so much as the water was keeping a firm enough grasp on his feet to allow him to stand. It felt more like floating than walking, but only a small part of his body was submerged. It was disorienting, and Riku's heart raced with fear at the unknown sensation, yet the magic seemed to hold.</p>
<p>At least, if it didn't, Riku knew he had little to fear from drowning, he thought bitterly. The danger they were walking into, however, would not be quite so easy to overcome.</p>
<p>The platform lowered at Kairi's command, going down until it wasn't just at sea level, but digging an impossible hole beneath it. Raging waters dripped down around them, but inside the perfect circle of their platform, the sea was unnaturally quiet. Then, finally, they were below the sea, and the waters closed up above them, forming a ceiling in constant motion. They were invisible from anyone above the water—including the occupants of one particular ship.</p>
<p>Riku treaded carefully across the platform to stand by Kairi's side. Now that they were fully immersed, her confident look had faded, replaced by a strained expression, eyes closed and brow furrowed. "You okay?" he asked softly, unsure if she could even hear him.</p>
<p>"Yeah," she said without looking at him. "I can do this."</p>
<p>Just as she said that, Riku felt momentum pulling him backwards as their platform moved, digging a path through the sea towards the Splendor. Riku peered into the dark depths, hoping to find a sign of the galleon—and dreading to see the flashing lights of the Heartless creatures who had attacked him, the last time he had dived into this bay. But for now, there was nothing in sight.</p>
<p>Nervous, Riku took the Keyblade in his hands, readying himself for what came next. He had tried to give the weapon back to Sora, but he'd shaken his head slowly with a smile. "You'll need it more than me. And it looks like it likes you." Riku hadn't had the opportunity to ask what that meant.</p>
<p>Riku stared out at the water again, wondering where Sora was now. Was he still at sea, and could he see them from where he was? Riku still knew so little about what he could do as a merman.</p>
<p>Once they had the Heart back, he told himself that he would have all the time to learn all those things. When this was all over. The thought filled him with newfound resolve, and he stood straighter, resolute and expectant.</p>
<p>When the Splendor's hull came into view through the depths, it was Riku's time to act. Kairi took them closer, until the hull broke through the surface of their bubble, dripping water down on Roxas, who had been closest to it. As he pulled away with a yelp, Riku stepped towards it.</p>
<p>"This is <em>crazy</em>," he repeated to himself, readying the Keyblade in his hand. Then he struck, and the Keyblade sliced through the hull's wood as if it were butter. Three more hits, and an entire chunk of the hull fell down, past the floor of their bubble and into the depth.</p>
<p>"Are you sure we shouldn't just sink it?" Yozora asked, detached. "If the Captain's a merman, he could fetch the Heart from the wreck."</p>
<p>"I'm not doing that," Kairi said.</p>
<p>"But you <em>could</em>. Flood the entire ship, let them drown."</p>
<p>"We've killed enough people tonight," Riku cut in. "And we might still have to. But it doesn't mean we can't at least <em>try</em> to avoid it. These soldiers have had no choice in working for my father."</p>
<p>Yozora scoffed. "<em>Fine</em>. Guess we're doing it the hard way."</p>
<p>He went first, pulling himself up into the ship through the opening. Terra went right after him, and while Yozora stood guard, Terra helped the rest of them get on board.</p>
<p>"You holding up okay?" Riku asked Kairi. If she lost control of her magic, the Splendor would sink fast—and all of them with it.</p>
<p>"Don't worry about me," she said. "I can do this."</p>
<p>They had entered in a cargo hold, and it had evidently already been unloaded since the Splendor's arrival in Port Royal: there was very little left here, mostly ballast, supplies, and water barrels, as well as loose ropes, chains, and pulleys—the skeleton of the apparatus needed to secure cargo on a ship. There were no soldiers here, either, since there was nothing to guard. And of course, few would expect an attack to come from within the ship.</p>
<p>The moment they would be out of the hold, though, there was no telling what would await them. Worse, while Donald had spotted Xehanort aboard the Splendor with his spyglass, he only had a faint idea of how heavily guarded he was, where he would be now, or how long they had before he used the Heart of the Sea. They needed more information, but had no time to get it. They were flying in blind—or swimming in, Riku supposed.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The Splendor's lower decks were empty and unguarded, thankfully. Not only did it allow them to avoid bloodshed, it also meant they made their way up quickly and undetected.</p>
<p>As they heard the sound of soldiers above deck, however, they paused. Debating the best course of action was out of the question, so it only took the smallest amount of deliberation before Donald slipped out a cannon window, and climbed up the Splendor's side in order to take a look at the situation.</p>
<p>When he came back, he looked grim. "I counted at least forty soldiers on deck," he said.</p>
<p>Impossible to defeat them in a fight, then. "My father?" Riku asked.</p>
<p>"He was standing at the forecastle. Looking at the Leviathan." The implication behind his words was lost on no one.</p>
<p>"We need to split up those soldiers," Yozora said. "Otherwise, we don't stand a chance."</p>
<p>"So we need to make noise," Aqua suggested. "Draw them away."</p>
<p>"And how are we doing that without being immediately swarmed?"</p>
<p>"There isn't much left on this ship…" Aqua smirked, and looked at the cannons around them. "Except for gunpowder. A controlled explosion."</p>
<p>"You can do that?" Kairi asked, a note of wonder in her voice.</p>
<p>Aqua nodded. "We'll have to split up. Start multiple explosions throughout the lower decks, and find somewhere to hide so we can make it past the guards when they come check it out." She looked at Kairi, worried. "It'll make your job harder."</p>
<p>"Do what you have to," Kairi said.</p>
<p>"So we're splitting up even more?" Riku asked.</p>
<p>"Afraid so."</p>
<p>"The Governor was on his own," Donald pointed out. "You won't need too many people against him alone."</p>
<p>"I'll go," Riku shuddered at the thought, but nodded resolutely. "It's my father."</p>
<p>"Then I'm going too," Yozora said immediately. "Because it's your father."</p>
<p>Riku scoffed. "Don't trust me?"</p>
<p>"I do, actually," Yozora said, softly. "But you'll need someone who can make the tough choice if you can't."</p>
<p>"I'll come with you too," Kairi said. "Even if I have to hold the ship together—I might be able to help against the Heart's magic."</p>
<p>Riku looked to Donald and Goofy, but before he could ask for their help, Aqua said, "The rest of us should take care of setting up the bombs. There are six of us, and three decks to cover. We can work in pairs."</p>
<p>Without wasting time, the pirates got to work carrying gunpowder, leaving Riku, Kairi and Yozora on their own. Riku was tempted to ask Yozora what he thought their odds were, but he didn't think he wanted to hear the answer.</p>
<p>After a moment, Yozora said, "Come on. We'll have to climb on the forecastle from the outside. Better find a window that's close enough." He set out towards the crew's quarters at the ship's fore, and it was all Riku could do to follow.</p>
<p>They ran into two soldiers there, but Yozora shot the first one dead before he could raise the alarm, and Riku knocked the other out.</p>
<p>"You should tie him up," Yozora said dryly.</p>
<p>"The Splendor is going to sink when Kairi leaves it," Riku retorted. "If I tie him up, I'm leaving him to die."</p>
<p>Yozora rolled his eyes, but didn't argue, instead opening one of the windows in the room. He peeked outside and looked around, then backed up into the room, nodding silently. With the window open, they'd have to work silently, lest their voices carry and alert Xehanort.</p>
<p>After that, it was just a matter of waiting. The mere thought of it made Riku antsy, and even though he knew it hadn't been that long since the rest of their group had gone down to the lower decks, it still felt like an eternity. Every time he looked at Kairi, he worried that her magic would give out and condemn the other pirates to a watery grave; but he knew that if he asked her, she'd just insist she could do it, in spite of the sheen of sweat on her brow.</p>
<p>Finally, a single, loud blast echoed from somewhere deep within the ship. Yozora motioned towards Riku and Kairi, and the three of themswung out of the window, careful to be out of sight in case any soldier checked the crew's quarters.</p>
<p>Riku started to climb immediately, but only to peek at the Splendor's upper deck through the railing. Just like Donald had said, Xehanort was at the forecastle, but the deck had otherwise cleared, safe for Braig, standing a respectful distance away from Riku's father. Riku couldn't see Xehanort's face, but his stance alone exuded confidence. He had been afraid that Xehanort would attempt to flee on his rowboat at the first sign of trouble, yet he didn't move. Then again, with the Heart of the Sea, Riku wondered if he couldn't prevent the Splendor from sinking, in the same way Kairi was.</p>
<p>Riku motioned to the others, and the three of them climbed onto the deck, Yozora leaping above the railing and landing with his weapons in hand. He fired his crossbow instantly, pinning Braig through his forearm to the mast behind him.</p>
<p>"You!" Braig shouted. It took a moment for Riku to realize he was looking at <em>him</em>, not Yozora. "How—<em>how!</em>"</p>
<p>Xehanort, however, looked only amused. "My boy! Resilient as a cockroach. I should have known."</p>
<p>Ignoring the shudder that ran down his spine, Riku took the Keyblade out of its holster. "The Heart. Give it back."</p>
<p>"Back? It doesn't belong to you. The Heart of the Sea belongs only to the King of the Caribbean! And that will be me." Xehanort held up the satchel slung across his shoulder, which Riku recognized immediately—Elizabeth's satchel, the one where he'd stored the map to the Observatory and the Heart. "Behold! At last, I will be able to squash all deviance from my kingdom. I would start with you, but I think I'll—" Smirking, Xehanort's gaze turned to the Leviathan. "Yes. If you're here and alive—"</p>
<p>As Xehanort pointed his hand towards the Leviathan, several more explosions shook the Splendor. Behind Riku, Kairi dropped to her knees. "This is—<em>so much—</em>"</p>
<p>Riku didn't know if she meant the strain of keeping the ship afloat, or the power coming from Xehanort. Even he could feel some of it as it coursed over them, like a wall of malignant air pouring into the sea and towards the Leviathan. Instantly, the waves around the pirate ship grew more agitated, rising up just as they had at the shipyard under Kairi's influence—but there was no gentleness to <em>these</em> waves.</p>
<p>"Stop!" Riku shouted. "You're finished. Even if you hurt them—"</p>
<p>"<em>If</em>? Come on, boy. It's <em>happening</em>."</p>
<p>Trading glances with Yozora, Riku steeled himself and gripped the Keyblade with both hands. "Fine," he said, unable to keep his voice from cracking before he charged his father.</p>
<p>Yozora, sword drawn, dashed at Riku's side; however, before they crossed the distance separating them from Xehanort, water surged over the railing. It formed into tendrils, swatting at Yozora and sending him flying over the railing. When they hit Riku, however, the water tendrils fell apart, raining onto the bridge as droplets.</p>
<p>Riku was too confused to strike properly at his father, and instead rammed right into him. The two of them barreled onwards under his momentum, sprawling onto the deck. Riku rolled several times, landing too far from Xehanort to take the Heart of the Sea from him.</p>
<p>Xehanort recovered before Riku did, and drew his sword. "Sloppy," he said, dismissive. "Your instructors always said so." He brought his sword down, and it was all Riku could do to block it with the Keyblade. His father pushed against his blade, forcing him to hold back with what little strength he had. "How did you combat the Heart's power? <em>What</em> have you done?"</p>
<p>"I—" Riku's gaze went over Xehanort's shoulder and landed on Kairi. "I'm protected." He mustered all the energy he could to push his father back, who staggered a few steps.</p>
<p>Scoffing, Xehanort turned his free hand towards the Leviathan again, and Riku saw the waves morph into a gigantic whirlpool, threatening to swallow the ship whole. Just then, however, Kairi got to her feet and turned to the Leviathan as well. The waves quieted, but only briefly. As Kairi staggered against the railing, Riku winced as he saw a figure go overboard on the Leviathan.</p>
<p>His distraction allowed his father to strike again. Riku blocked the hit, but not before the blade dug into his left shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain as the new would revived his old ones, bringing him down to one knee.</p>
<p>"You couldn't just be a shame on your entire family, could you? You had to <em>betray</em> me, too?"</p>
<p>Xehanort struck again, and the force of the blow tore the Keyblade from Riku's hand. It fell at his feet, and Riku reached for it blindly, desperately—then froze when his father held his sword's point under his chin.</p>
<p>"The entire sea is at my command. It's over, boy."</p>
<p>Just as Xehanort readied his last strike, another set of explosions shook the Splendor, making him stumble. When he turned towards Riku again, there was a blur of motion surging from beyond the ship's railing. All Riku saw was blue, the rich, royal blue of a dolphin tail, and he knew what to do. Instead of taking the Keyblade in his hand again, he kicked at it, making it slide across the deck. When Sora landed and rolled on the deck, his hand found the Keyblade, as natural as if it were an extension of his arm.</p>
<p>Sora swung his weapon only once.</p>
<p>The Governor stood still, looking up in confusion as his sword clattered away, knocked out of his hand by Sora's blow. He turned around and slowly backed away, allowing Riku to see Sora in full. His coat was wrapped around him, visibly drenched, but his legs and arms were bare, and there was a hint of skin showing under his collar too. But as he held the Keyblade pointed at Xehanort, there was no doubt that he was a threat to be reckoned with.</p>
<p>"You're right, Governor," Sora said. "It <em>is</em> over."</p>
<p>"<em>You</em>," Xehanort hissed. "You're just a dull <em>pirate</em>. You can't be—"</p>
<p>Sora narrowed his eyes. "The Heart, if you please."</p>
<p>When Riku saw his father's sneer, he knew it wasn't over. "Look out!"</p>
<p>More tendrils surged up the sides of the ship, surging towards Sora, but Riku was faster. He tackled his father, confident in the charm's protection; and this time, he wasn't distracted. He rammed his fist against his father's temple, while his other hand went straight for the satchel. Xehanort collapsed, and the satchel came free just as Sora got knocked overboard.</p>
<p>The moment Riku was holding the Heart, its magic died: all the tendrils fell down into droplets, and the maelström threatening the Leviathan calmed down. But Riku had only one thing in mind: he ran to the railing, shouting Sora's name.</p>
<p>He shouldn't have worried: when he peered overboard, he saw Sora back in his merman form, his cloak billowing around him on the water's surface. With one arm, he was keeping an unconscious Yozora afloat, but he grinned at Riku as if that was effortless for him.</p>
<p>Relieved, Riku turned back to look at the deck. His father lay limp on the ground, but Braig had pulled Yozora's crossbow bolt free from his arm, an angry glare directed at Riku as he loomed towards him, his arm bleeding profusely. "<em>You—</em>"</p>
<p>Before he could say anything more, Donald appeared behind him, knocking him out with a blow to back of the head. "And <em>stay down</em>!"</p>
<p>Riku let out a relieved gasp as the rest of the pirates came up behind Donald, taking in the scene before them. "Did you get it?" Goofy asked.</p>
<p>Holding up the satchel, Riku nodded.</p>
<p>Xion rushed over to help Kairi stand, then turned to Riku. "What about Yozora?"</p>
<p>"Fell overboard. Sora's taking care of him."</p>
<p>"Then it's time we go," Aqua said. She and Terra hurried over to the port side, and got to work releasing one of the Splendor's rowboats. Their team hurried on board, but before they could start rowing, Sora appeared near them, still carrying Yozora.</p>
<p>"Can you take him? I'll give you a lift, it'll be easier."</p>
<p>Riku let out a chuckle that turned into a sob. "Yeah," he said. He and Terra pulled Yozora onto the rowboat, and Sora started pushing it towards the Leviathan, his dolphin tail kicking with incredible strength.</p>
<p>"You can let go now, Kairi," Riku told her softly.</p>
<p>There was a worried look on her face as she glanced back towards the Splendor. "What about—" She shook her head. "Never mind. I don't wanna know."</p>
<p>She let out a breath, soft and relieved. Behind him, Riku heard the Splendor suddenly let out a horrible crack as sea water began to flood its insides.</p>
<p>He didn't look back to look at the devastation. Only forward, towards the Leviathan and his future.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The Leviathan's crew's quarters weren't a part of the ship Riku had visited much until now, and he couldn't say he liked them very much. Not for a lack of comfort—though it was certainly a step down from what he'd been used his whole life—but because, as Sora was pressed against him on a single cot, he definitely wished they weren't in the middle of a room full of other pirates.</p>
<p>Still, Sora had insisted on letting Kairi and Nova use the captain's cabin as his guests until they were in Nassau, so this was all they had. Sora had insisted on sleeping here as well, claiming he couldn't sleep in his aquarium and intrude on his guests' privacy. Not that he could be using it either way; it would take serious work to get it fixed after Riku's escape.</p>
<p>"You didn't mind intruding on <em>my</em> privacy," Riku couldn't help but point out.</p>
<p>"Well, it was different with you."</p>
<p>"Oh? Do tell me about it."</p>
<p>Except, once more, they were in the middle of the crowded crew's quarters, unable to really <em>tell</em> each other what they really wanted.</p>
<p>At least Sora's skin wasn't drying up from being out of the water for over a day now; the Heart of the Sea was working as he'd hoped. Riku didn't know if he could bear the sight of Sora as weak as he'd seen him in his childhood bedroom. He didn't dare suggest forgetting Nassau and keeping it for himself, though the thought had crossed his mind.</p>
<p>Even if they couldn't keep the Heart, one idea ran through Riku's mind: if there was one way to go around Sora's limitations using magic, there had to be another. Riku would find it; and once he had, he would visit all those places in Sora's books with him. Once the Heart was delivered in Nassau, they had their whole lives ahead of them to figure it out.</p>
<p>Sora slept through the whole first day of their return trip to Nassau, and Riku stayed by his side the whole time. The wounds on his own body, from the water tank and all the fighting in Port Royal, were slowly healing as well, though Xion and Kairi agreed that they would leave scars. Riku didn't particularly mind that part—Sora had plenty of scars of his own. It was a part of this life.</p>
<p>When Sora finally woke up, it was night again, but in spite of the late hour, the two of them went up on the deck, where Sora called the entire crew.</p>
<p>"We have unfinished business," he said. "The last time I was here, your vote was unambiguous. The Pirate Code is clear, and I mean to honor your will. Once we reach Nassau—"</p>
<p>Yozora stepped forward before Sora could finish. "I think I speak in everyone's name to say that that won't be necessary," he said. "We were wrong. <em>I</em> was wrong. You risked a lot to save us all from Xehanort. You saved <em>me</em>."</p>
<p>Sora shook his head. "You all risked everything to save <em>me</em>, too."</p>
<p>"Yeah. But it was you and the Heart, though. And none of us dove into a maelström."</p>
<p>"It's not a <em>competition</em>, Yozora."</p>
<p>"You're right, it's not." Yozora chuckled. "You'd probably win anyway." He shook his head. "I asked the crew while you recovered. You're a good captain—always have been. Guess we just needed a reminder how far you're willing to go for us."</p>
<p>"I still lied to you. I'm still—"</p>
<p>"A pirate," Yozora cut him off. "First and foremost."</p>
<p>The rest of the crew marked their approval—silently at first, then louder and lourder, erupting into cheers and shanties as the barriers between crew members broke down.</p>
<p>Riku saw that Sora was tearing up as he looked at all of them, and he wrapped an arm over his shoulders. "You deserve this," he said.</p>
<p>Yozora stepped forward and nodded. "You do. I shouldn't even have challenged you just because you're a merman. It's far from the most unsavory background in this crew, right?" He glanced at Riku. "I mean, look at this one. A Governor's son. Absolutely <em>hateful</em>, and yet."</p>
<p>Sora chuckled, and Riku couldn't help but laugh along as well. "Thank you, Yozora."</p>
<p>"Some of the crew do want to leave once we reach Nassau. Not many, but some. And I doubt they'll stay silent once they do."</p>
<p>"I know," Sora said. "I won't be able to keep my secret once we get there. I'll just have to deal with the consequences."</p>
<p>"You're bringing them the Heart of the Sea," Riku pointed out. "And they all know you. They'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt."</p>
<p>Sora nodded silently. "Yeah. I think you might be right."</p>
<p>The next day was quieter; most of the crew insisted on Sora getting more rest, and though he refused, he didn't seem to have nearly as many tasks as he usually did, remaining with Riku at the wheel instead.</p>
<p>When the sun set, they were able to admire it together, leaning over the railing in peaceful silence.</p>
<p>Just as the sun was vanishing under the horizon, Kairi joined them. "You wanted to see me, Captain Sora?"</p>
<p>"I did. I could use the services of a witch in my crew, and you come with the highest recommendations I could possibly receive." He eyed Riku, grinning.</p>
<p>Kairi's lips parted in surprise. "My grandmother can't live on a ship," she set, apologetic.</p>
<p>"I can get her set up in Nassau. Get her a nice home—for the both of you."</p>
<p>"That would be great," Kairi cut him off. "But I might have to stay in Nassau, though. At least for some time I'll need to learn more about what I can do."</p>
<p>"Well, we may have to drop anchor in Nassau for a while ourselves anyway." Riku already knew this—setting up the Heart alone would take time, and they would have to see how much trouble Sora's identity would cause—yet he still felt a twinge of disappointment at the thought. "Maybe, when we leave, you'll consider leaving with us?"</p>
<p>Kairi looked at Sora for a moment, a soft smile on her lips. "You know, I just might."</p>
<p>She excused herself for the night before long, leaving the two of them alone again.</p>
<p>"What about you?" Sora finally said, his voice soft and hesitant.</p>
<p>"Do you even need to ask?"</p>
<p>"I do. I was never your answer—what you needed was freedom. Not staying tied to your captor forever."</p>
<p>Riku scoffed. "You know that's not what you are to me."</p>
<p>"Maybe," Sora said with a mischievous grin, one Riku couldn't help but lean in and kiss.</p>
<p>"I <em>am</em> free. That's the point. Free to travel on the Leviathan." He looked at the sea, taking in the breeze. It was far from his first time doing this now, and it felt fresher every time. "Free to choose you. Without regret."</p>
<p>Sora was briefly silent, though Riku felt his eyes on him. "So what <em>am</em> I to you, then?"</p>
<p>Riku met his gaze as he considered his answer, the blue tinged with inky black, just like the sea below, the stars reflected in them.</p>
<p>There were many answers to that question, not all of which Riku thought he was ready to say out loud. He had time to figure it out. "You're Captain Sora," he finally said.</p>
<p>"I thought I told you you could just call me Sora." The intensity of his gaze belied the obliviousness of his words.</p>
<p>"What you <em>said</em> is that only your crew calls you 'Captain'," Riku retorted. "Captain."</p>
<p>Sora laughed, and pulled Riku down into a kiss.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><div class="children module" id="children">
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